José Coelho / Lusa
A spectacular turnaround in the second half allowed Sporting to recover from two goals behind and win 4-2 in Braga, in the game that marked Rúben Amorim’s farewell to the Alvalade club. And the unlikely hero was… Conrad Harder.
On their trip to Braga, Sporting put their status as an unbeatable team at stake and bet on equaling their record of consecutive victories at the start of the championship — 11, achieved by Marinho Peres at the start of the 1990/91 season.
It was also the farewell to Rúben Amorimafter saying goodbye to Alvalade with an epic 4-1 victory over Manchester City.
But Sporting de Braga, who had two consecutive victories in the championship, started better and reached the break with a two goal advantageafter an ‘encore’ of Ricardo Hortaat 20 and 45 minutes.
Still with the result at 1-0, more bad news for Sporting: a new injury to Pedro Gonçalves, who left the pitch in tears. For the second time, the muscles betrayed Pote at a time when he was called up to the national team.
In the second half, everything was different. Amorim did his magic again.
In the 60th minute, with the first touch of the ball after entering the field, Morita He scored the Lions’ first goal, from a header hit by St.Juste’s post, to make it 2-1.
Sporting continued to look for the goal, taking advantage of some of Braga’s physical wear and tear — a goal that arrived in the 80th minute, through a spectacular shot from the captain. Morten Hjulmad a good twenty meters from the entrance to the area.
The turnaround was expected, and it happened in the 89th minute, with a goal, another from outside the area, from Conrad Harder. A few minutes later, in stoppage time, the Norwegian scored twice in the match, once again with a shot from outside the area, after a pass from Gyökeres.
The lions added the 11th triumph in as many games to the League, handing his coach an epic turnaround as he bids farewell to the club.
With this victory, the defending champion maintains the isolated leadership of the League, now with 33 points, 11 wins in 11 games, and is awaiting the result of the Luz derby between Benfica, third, and FC Porto, second, while Sporting de Braga closes the round in fifth place, with 20 points.
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