Sporting Portugal did good business in the Champions League on Wednesday evening. The team of trainer Rúben Amorim was 4-0 too strong for Besiktas at home, partly due to two hits from Pedro Gonçalves. Thanks to the win, Sporting is equal in points with Borussia Dortmund (six); Ajax leads with twelve points, while Besiktas remains scoreless last in Group C. Internazionale simultaneously booked a 1-3 win over Sheriff Tiraspol. With the win, Internazionale is second in Group D with seven points, two points behind leaders Real Madrid.
Sporting Portugal – Besiktas 4-0
With ten minutes on the clock, the home side had the perfect opportunity to take the lead. Pablo Sarabia gave up on Paulinho, who hit the intersection hard from close range. A minute later, Sporting got the chance to open the score in a similar way. Sarabia again passed Paulinho, who this time fired between the posts. Goalkeeper Ersin Destanoglu barely managed to save with his feet. Halfway through the first half, Cyle Larin suddenly appeared behind Sporting’s defence. However, the attacker’s shot went wide. On the other hand, the ball from the counter-attack went ahead os Leões on the dot, when Ridvan Yilmaz intentionally backfired on his opponent Gonçalves. The wing attacker then sent Destanoglu into the wrong corner from eleven meters: 1-0.
Sports ahead! ? Gonçalves gives the Portuguese the lead against Besiktas from the spot ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #SCPBES pic.twitter.com/ekfqzFRG4O
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 3, 2021
Five minutes later, the home team doubled the margin. Gonçalves cut Ridvan Yilmaz out and then shot in dry in the short corner: 2-0. A few minutes later, coach Amorim’s team further expanded the score. Paulinho dribbled in from the left to finish with a low hard shot from about twenty meters: 3-0. The home team immediately went looking for the fourth goal in the second half. A cross from Sarabia sailed over the top of the bar. Ten minutes after the break, the ball luckily fell at the feet of the Spanish wing attacker, who could therefore easily score the next Portuguese goal: 4-0. Besiktas ended the game in stoppage time with ten men after a red card for Souza.
Sheriff Tiraspol – Internazionale 1-3
Stefan de Vrij started in the starting line-up for the visitors, while Denzel Dumfries started on the bench in favor of Matteo Darmian. After more than fifteen minutes of play, Inter showed themselves for the first time. Edin Dzeko headed a corner from Nicolò Barella just wide of the left post. The team of trainer Simone Inzaghi pushed more halfway through the first half. First Darmian shot just past the far post and then Lautaro Martínez saw two attempts being blocked from close range. The Argentinian tried again five minutes before half-time with a dangerous shot. This time, however, the post stood in the way of the attacker.
Inter ahead! Barella likes to sideline for Brozovic’s first Champions League goal ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #SHEINT pic.twitter.com/b4bgzlxvhv
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 3, 2021
Eight minutes into the second half when Inter broke the spell in Tiraspol. Marcelo Brozovic cut two players out on the edge of the sixteen-meter area and then shot in hard and dry with a low shot: 0-1. Midway through the second half, the game was closed by Inter. De Vrij headed a corner from Brozovic from close by at goalkeeper Georgios Athanasiadis, after which Milan Skriniar scored in two instances: 0-2. Ten minutes before the end, substitute Alexis Sánchez was also allowed to join in the celebration. The Chilean stole the ball from captain Gustavo Dulanto and then confidently finished it: 0-3. Adama Traoré took care of the home team’s honorary goal in injury time.