Tottenham faced off with Sporting on Tuesday evening at the Estadio Jose Alvalade stadium.
Tottenham headed into the game looking to make it two wins from two in the Champions League this season.
Spurs faced off with Marseille last week and came away with a 2-0 win, whilst Sporting beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to go top of the group.
As a result, a tightly contested affair was expected on Tuesday. And, when all was said and done, Sporting came away with a 2-0 win.
The tie started in predictably dull fashion, with both sides preferring to sit back and counter.
Tottenham did have the ball in the back of the net towards the end of the first half, but it was offside. Marcus Edwards then nearly scored a superb solo goal right at the end of the half but was denied by Hugo Lloris.
Tottenham then had a much better start to the second 45, but continued to struggle to carve out one major chance. Ivan Perisic whipped a good ball across goal, but Harry Kane could not stab it home.
It was Sporting who won the tie, though, scoring in the 90th minute to snatch the three points thanks to a flick-on from a corner. The Portuguese side then added a second in the 93rd minute to rub salt in the wounds.
Sporting player ratings
Antonio Adan (6) - Made some decent saves but not tested too much.
Goncalo Inacio (7) - An excellent game from the stopper, stepping out from his defensive line and making some important tackles/clearances.
Sebastian Coates (6.5) - Played the offside trap well, including to prevent a Richarlison goal.
Matheus Reis (5) - Failed to keep Richarlison quiet, making a number of defensive mistakes and being weak in the air.
Pedro Porro (7) - Did a decent job keeping Son from posing too much of a threat and got the assist for the first goal.
Hidemasa Morita (6.5) - Morita pressed well, was calm on the ball and his passing was good.
Manuel Ugarte (6) - Helped Sporting dominate the midfield battle, especially in the first half.
Nuno Santos (4) - His crossing was poor vs Tottenham and he also struggled to deal with Richarlison.
Trincao (6) - Caused Tottenham issues with his pace and quick feet.
Marcus Edwards (7) - Operated in a false-nine role, making it hard for Spurs’ defenders to pick him up. Edwards also nearly scored a beautiful solo goal that saw him skip past several Spurs defenders but Lloris saved.
Pedro Goncalves (5) - An anonymous display that saw him fail to complete a dribble or have a shot on target.
Substitutes
Sotirios Alexandropoulos (4) - Passing was good but did little of note.
Paulinho (6) - Scored the winning goal with a header from a corner.
Arthur Gomes (5) - Scored with one of his first touches.
Ricardo Esgaio (N/A)
Tottenham player ratings
Hugo Lloris (5.5) - Made some decent saves.
Emerson Royal (5.5) - Was a threat down Sporting’s left, he also won most of his ground duels.
Cristian Romero (5.5) - Had little to do - made a few tackles and interceptions but nothing to write home about.
Eric Dier (5.5) - Solid display but had little to do.
Ben Davies (4.5) - Struggled to deal with Marcus Edwards’ threat, often being pulled out of position by the attacker.
Ivan Perisic (6) - Tried to create some chances for Spurs but his crossing was average and he got little help from Son. Was ok defensively but not really tested.
Rodrigo Bentancur (5.5) - Bentancur produced some good tackles and was able to carry the ball forward pretty well but he did lose the ball quite a lot.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (5) - Was not at his best defensively and struggled to add creativity.
Richarlison (6.5) - Had some joy down Sporting’s left, should have done better with a headed chance early on. Scored in the first half but it was offside. Was Spurs’ biggest attacking threat for much of the game.
Heung-min Son (4) - Another quiet display from the South Korean, who remains without a goal in 2022/23.
Harry Kane (5) - Kane’s link-up play was poor early on. He also should have done better when attempting to get on the end of a Perisic cross.
Substitutes
Dejan Kulusveski (4) - Was brought on to add some much-needed creativity to Tottenham’s attack but failed to do so.
Ryan Sessegnon (N/A)
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