Man City had a good start when Phil Foden took advantage of a mistake in the opponent’s defense to open the scoring in the 4th minute.
In the next 20 minutes, Man City continued to show their strength when creating at least 3 scoring opportunities, but Haaland continuously missed them.
Missing many opportunities, Man City had to pay the price in the 38th minute after a lightning counterattack by the home team.
From the middle of the field, Swedish striker Gyokeres accelerated extremely quickly to receive a pass from his teammate. He escaped to face goalkeeper Ederson and then launched a delicate shot to equalize for the home team.
In the second half, Man City’s defense continued to play loosely and Sporting CP easily scored to increase the score to 2-1 after an exemplary arrangement in the first minute.
Pedro Goncalves dribbled into the middle and then made a pass that completely eliminated the opposing defenders, creating conditions for Araujo to escape and defeat goalkeeper Ederson.
Just a few dozen seconds after the second goal, Man City received the third goal. Gvardiol was completely defeated by Trincao in the speed race on the home team’s left wing, and was forced to commit a foul that led to a penalty. Gyokeres was given the responsibility and he did not miss it.
Amidst many difficulties, superstar Haaland caused disappointment with a series of missed opportunities. The climax was when he kicked the ball into the crossbar from the 11m mark in the 69th minute.
Before that, the referee had awarded the away team a penalty after Silva’s shot hit the hand of a Sporting CP player.
Man City’s night of horror ended when Gyokeres once again successfully scored a penalty in the 80th minute, thereby sealing a 4-1 victory for Sporting CP.
To score 4 goals, Sporting CP only had 8 shots and had 27.8% possession in this match. In contrast, Man City had 17 shots but paid the price for their ineffective attack, while their defense played too loosely.
This defeat puts Man City at risk of falling out of the top 8 after the fourth round of matches ends. They only have 7 points, 3 points behind Sporting CP.
Here’s Pep Gaurdiola’s reaction after that third goal went in.
Pep Guardiola disappointed during match between Sporting CP v Manchester City