Portela 4 - 1 Sporting (386242082)

Clouds darkened the skies at Portela City Arena as 72000 spectators turned up for the match. Dezyderiusz Rachubiński was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Esa Lohikoski and Desiré Baele. The derby had been the talk of Lisboa all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Portela started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Esteves Marques - Green, Herculano, Traenkle - Kubiński, Calejo, Antunes, Costa Amaral, Bellini - Arega, Ambryszewski.

Sporting had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Piamonte - Massa, Lei, Gamboa - Meneses, Amaro, Gorjão Henriques, Rialland, Curto - Giúdice, Shaharabani.

Portela were great at switching from defence to attack, and after 13 minutes, P. Arega swept through the middle on a counterattack, making the score 1 - 0. With 36 minutes played, the visitors could have drawn level after S. Shaharabani came through the middle, but his kick went wide. In a rapid move 37 minutes into the match, J. Giúdice of Sporting lost his man and passed the ball to the unmarked S. Shaharabani who easily hit it home to make it 1 - 1. Luckily the ref didn't see him taunting the opposing fans in celebration - naughty boy! The crowd groaned its disapproval when W. Traenkle missed a free kick that would have given Portela the lead after 38 minutes. The corner kick from W. Traenkle was powerfully met by the head of S. Antunes to make the score 2 - 1. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to Portela, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

Cheers filled the stadium as P. Arega broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to Portela. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Portela lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. The Sporting coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Sporting's F. Curto was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 65 minutes. A. Lameiro was given a chance to change things around. A. Meneses's experience almost gave Sporting a goal after 76 minutes but the keeper made a great save. With 79 minutes played, Portela's S. Antunes almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. The score became 4 - 1 at 86 minutes into the game, when Portela were given a penalty which W. Traenkle blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! With 87 minutes played, P. Arega could have brought this one home for Portela as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. A great save by keeper M. Piamonte after 87 minutes kept the visitors in the game after P. Ambryszewski struck from the left with a real cannonball. Portela claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

Portela's best player was P. Arega. B. Green on the other hand, had a terrible day. J. Giúdice performed admirably for Sporting. However, O. Gamboa made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 1.