Returning to the Champions League after seven years of absence there, the Lisbon Sporting, the next rival of Spartak, began with a victory over Milan's Inter , the strongest club in the world, according to Jose Mourinho.
As Inter was, it remains so
What year, "Inter" collects a smirk in his address. And the current one seems to be no exception. Having become, so to speak, the Italian champion “on paper”, Roberto Mancini's team automatically raised the bar for self-demands, and her bosses voiced ambitious plans for the season: to win Serie A and the Champions League. But at the same time, the Milan club, very likely, remained itself. Being an undisputed favorite in a dispute with a young and inexperienced Portuguese team, Inter finally hinted once again: despite high-profile acquisitions, jumped potential, generous advances and the length of the bench, he remained unbalanced. Or maybe just his absence.
In Lisbon, the Italian superclub failed completely, not once in the whole match without seriously disturbing the goalkeeper of Sporting Ricardo, without even trying to add during the meeting when the situation required it.
Roberto Mancini made adjustments to the composition after the start of the victory in the national championship over Fiorentina. Not everyone has benefited the game. Adriano, who had come out from the first minutes, explained exhaustively with his inertness why he stood in reserve in Florence. Replacing Cambiasso effectively playing there with Stankovic was forced and seriously affected the midfield line - the Serb, in fact, did not remember anything. But Fabio Grosso, who settled on the left edge, paid attention mainly to defense, and we must pay tribute to this: “Sporting” with all the visual activity of serious scoring chances did not create.
Another story - a visit to the homeland of Luis Figo, mastering the role of "free artist" on the field. The 34-year-old midfielder tried his best, but if the whole team doesn’t play, Figo is unlikely to be able to perform miracles alone, which he previously managed. As a result, Mancini replaced the legend in the middle of the second half ...
Molodetsky courage
... Ten minutes before the final whistle, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder of Sporting Nani left the field to applause. A creative player with good dribbling and a vision of the field - they talk about him as a possible replacement for Figo in the national team. And this is not the only young talent presented by the Lisbon to the court of a wide audience. The same is true of Nani's midfielder midfielder João Moutinho, who played the entire match. The hosts combined well. But they failed to truly undermine the experienced defense of Inter - the potentials of the teams, despite the final score, are still incomparable. The “sporing” had only one thing - to persistently shoot from afar in the hope of fortune arrangement. And she was merciful: Marka Kaneira won the martial arts against the right-back of Inter, Maicon and charged under the crossbar along a path unattainable for the goalkeeper - the cameramen managed to catch Toldo’s slightly guilty smile after the ball. Before the end of the meeting, a little more than twenty minutes remained. However, they did not bring anything remarkable, except for the removal of two yellow cards of Vieira.
Caution Spartak
The Portuguese club, by and large, did not answer the question: what is it all-purposeful? The one that played against the Milanese on Tuesday? Or is this impulse just a derivative of starting inspiration and therefore cannot be regarded as a constant? One way or another, Sporting proved that it is by definition dangerous. And still little studied. This increases his chances of surprises in the current draw. What they will be, no doubt.
Nikolay HODASEVICH