cska sunk by slimani's late sporting strike published: tuesday 18 august 2015, 23.00cet sporting cp 2-1 cska moskva islam slimani struck late on as the hosts made home advantage tell with a dominant display after seydou doumbia missed a first-half spot kick in lisbon.
teófilo gutiérrez nets 12th-minute opener for sporting seydou doumbia misses first-half spot kick, then hits 40th-minute equaliser cska suffer first defeat in ten uefa champions league qualifying matches second leg takes place in russia next wednesday
islam slimani struck eight minutes from time as sporting cp were rewarded for a dominant display against cska moskva in lisbon with a narrow advantage following this uefa champions league play-off first leg.
seydou doumbia had redeemed himself after a first-half penalty miss by restoring parity following teófilo gutiérrez's opener. however, the lions would not be denied and forward slimani conjured a dramatic winner.
in a frantic opening period, the first chance fell to naldo in the ninth minute as the sporting centre-back blasted a shot just over the crossbar. three minutes later, the hosts broke the deadlock. a through ball from andré carrillo sent bryan ruiz clear with only igor akinfeev to beat, and ruiz teed up gutiérrez to finish into the empty net.
the portuguese side were well on top yet failed to add to their advantage and almost conceded an equaliser when zoran tošić won a penalty. doumbia stepped up confidently to take the spot kick but sporting goalkeeper rui patrício produced a fine stop to his left to keep the score level.
cska, unbeaten in nine uefa champions league qualifying matches prior to kick-off, were in danger of falling further behind as jorge jesus's charges dominated the first half. indeed, slimani squandered a glorious opportunity moments before doumbia made amends at the other end, rounding rui patrício after bursting clear on to a fine through pass by roman eremenko.
the hosts, who lost their previous encounter in lisbon against the army men in the 2005 uefa cup final, continued to show attacking intent after the interval. ruiz's goalbound shot was well blocked by vasili berezutski before slimani forced a fine stop from akinfeev in the 70th minute as he threatened to settle matters. leonid slutski's men failed to heed the warning though, as the no9 combined with carrillo before beating the russian custodian eight minutes from time with a low drive from the edge of the box to ensure home advantage counted.
reaction jorge jesus, sporting coach we knew the tie wouldn't be decided here, though we could have got a better result. i am happy for the team, with the performance – both individually and collectively – and it's still open for second leg. i am confident we will score in moscow, we have quality to do that.
leonid slutski, cska coach sporting showed they are a team who play at a high level and are very professional. though we lost, there is a second match to come and that may change everything. we tried to play on the counterattack and take advantage of the chances we had, but things do not always go the way you want.
