He Sporting Clube de Portugal will play this Sunday the final of the UEFA Futsal Champions League by losing the match 7-1 royal anderlecht of Belgium in a game that the Portuguese condemned in the first 20 minutes with a resounding 6-0, a result that was a slab for the Belgians in their attempt to react in the second half.
The superiority of Sporting, who will play for the title with the winner of the semifinall Mallorca Palma Futsal-Benfica, This was made clear by scoring a goal every 60 seconds at the start of the match.
The score reflected a devastating 5-0 in the first 5 minutes, all this, to the delight of around half a thousand fans who had traveled to Mallorca to support their team.
Sporting, European champion of the 2019 and 2021 edition, is a clear favorite to stand in the final, and they showed it in the first half that seemed too long to Anderlecht, who debuted in a Final Four.
The five Portuguese have in their squad the base of the Portugal team that won the World Cup and the Euro Cup, with stars like Zicky Té, Pany Varela or Tomás Paçó; they also have an Italian Alex Merlim and a Spaniard Esteban Cejudo.
The Belgian team endured the downpour as best they could. With 6-0 on the scoreboard, he went all out to end the first half with a goal that would have given him some hope at the start. But his rival did not stop him.
Coach Luca Cragnaz’s Anderlecht found themselves outclassed on all fronts. Sporting’s relentless pressure, combined with their technical quality, prevented any hint of a reaction from the Belgians at the start.
Sporting keeps the pressure on all parts of the track. He attacked relentlessly and defended himself with discipline without giving his rival any options and warned one of his opponents in the grand final, Mallorca Palma Futsal or Benfica.
Data sheet:
Sporting Clube de Portugal: Guitta, Erik, Joao Matos, Pauleta, Alex Merlim -starting five- Varela, Zicky, Sokolov, Diogo Santos, Esteban Cejudo, Neves
Sporting Anderlecht: Diego Roncaglio, Dragan Tomic, Maximiliano Rescia, Franko Jelovcic, Grello -starting five- John Lennon, Meyers, Roninho, Serginho, Edu, Dillie, Cristiano.
The objectives: 1-0 min. 2: Cavinato; 2-0 min. 3: Thomas; 3-0 min. 4: Merlin; 4-0 min. 5: Eduardo’s own goal; 5-0 min. 7: Neves; 6-0 min. 12: Eric; 6-1 min. 25: Jelovic; 7-1 min. 29: Neves.
Referees: Marc Birkett (Eng) and Kamil Çetin (TUR). They showed yellow cards to Roncaglio (min. 19), Edu (min. 20), from Anderlecht.
Incidents: The first semifinal of the Final Four of the UEFA Futsal Champions League was played at the Illes Balears Velodrome in front of around 2,000 spectators. Sporting Clube de Portugal will play on Sunday against the winner of the second semifinal between Mallorca Palma Futsal from Spain and Benfica from Portugal
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
