This Wednesday, Sporting beat Portimonense by 3-2, for the 16th round of the Portuguese Championship. Playing at home, at Estádio José Alvalade, the Lisbon team started behind, but had three goals from Paulinho to turn the score around in the second half and sleep at the top of the tournament.
The visitors opened the scoring after 21 minutes of play. After a cross from Fali Candé, defender Matheus Reis, from Sporting, deflected it to Adán’s goal and scored an own goal.
After the goal, the home team pressed in attack to seek a reaction. At 13 minutes into the second half, Portimonense had a player sent off, which ended up helping the opponent’s recovery.
Thus, seven minutes after the expulsion, Sporting reached the equalizer, with Paulinho. The forward received a cross inside the area and headed into the back of the net.
The turning point came 30 minutes into the final stage, again at the feet of Paulinho. The forward took advantage of the rebound to push the ball into the open goal. Just seven minutes later, Paulinho completed his hat-trick. The center forward received a pass from Pedro Gonçalves and expanded the score at José Alvalade.
Portimonense even reduced the difference in stoppage time, with a great goal from Lucas Possignolo, who killed the ball in the chest and hit the volley to score the second goal of the team.
With the scoreboard, Sporting reaches 44 points and assumes the momentary leadership of the Portuguese Championship, but still awaits the result of the classic between Porto and Benfica, this Thursday, to confirm its position. Portimonense is in sixth place, with 24 points.
Earlier, for the 16th round, Vitória SC received Boavista in a clash that ended in a draw 1-1.
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