Gyökeres at the double and Harder scores debut goal as Sporting beat AVS 3-0 at Alvalade

Sporting made light work of AVS in Lisbon tonight, clocking up a 6th successive victory in the Primeira Liga to stay three points clear at the top of the standings.

Star man Viktor Gyökeres was temporarily upstaged by Conrad Harder, the teenage Danish striker giving the hosts the lead on his full debut in the Portuguese capital.

But the Swede soon took centre stage as per usual, scoring goals either side of half time as the Lions ran out easy winners. Tom Kundert reports from Alvalade. 

Harder’s first start

With Gonçalo Inácio and Pedro Gonçalves out injured, Sporting coach Rúben Amorim was forced to shuffle the pack, meaning a full debut for 19-year-old Danish striker Conrad Harder.

For AVS, 41-year-old striker Nenê was also out injured, but the northern club’s other high-profile veteran, Guillermo Ochoa, took his place between the posts, the legendary Mexican goalkeeper playing his second game in the Primeira Liga since signing at the end of the transfer window.

It was one-way traffic at Alvalade, with Sporting circling the AVS goal menacingly from the off. Ochoa was called into action twice early on, racing out of his goal to thwart Gyökeres then diving athletically to his right to push Trincão’s shot around the post. Quenda then blasted an effort over and it was only a matter of time before the home side broke the deadlock.

Vikings combine

The goal duly came in the 15th minute, and it was a special moment for Harder. Sporting’s three Nordic players combined beautifully, Hjulmand and Gyökeres playing a one-two, the former then threading the ball into the path of his compatriot. The teenager showed no signs of nerves, striking the ball hard and low into the corner of the net with his favoured left foot.

Sporting continued to overwhelm AVS all over the pitch, creating chances at will and completely shutting off any hope the visitors may have harboured of getting back into the match.

The 39-year-old Ochoa did not pass up the opportunity to prove what a fine goalkeeper he remains, the Mexican making tremendous saves from Gyökeres and Trincão to delay the inevitable. Daniel Bragança also came close and Sporting had a claim for a penalty turned down as AVS somehow survived without conceding again until just before the break.

In first-half stoppage time Sporting at last doubled their lead, Gyökeres producing a neat finish from a Harder pass.

Promising partnership

A goal and an assist on his first start is a promising beginning for Harder, and the potential strike partnership between Harder and Gyökeres gives Amorim another useful alternative in Sporting’s multifaceted attacking armoury, especially when Pedro Gonçalves is unavailable.

The second half was not a whole lot different, with Sporting dominating possession and frequently creating danger without ever having to fully put their foot down on the pedal.

While Sporting as a collective and several individuals appeared to be conserving energy with matches coming thick and fast, a certain Viktor Gyökeres does not know the meaning of taking is easy.

The Swedish striker struck again in the 70th minute, finishing with aplomb from a fine Trincão pass, and he utterly refused to stop giving the AVS defenders a hard time all night.

That AVS did not concede more goals is down to the woodwork, as Maxi Araújo’s shot thumped off the post and back into play, and Ochoa, who made another outstanding save from Diomande. 

How good are this Sporting?

Portugal’s top flight is always an unbalanced league with a big gap in quality between the top teams and the also-rans, but this season that gap seems to have become a chasm, especially when Sporting are involved.

Whether it is because the smaller clubs have got weaker or because this Sporting side is a truly special team is up for debate, but this was a ridiculously one-sided game of football. At no point was there the slightest doubt about the result.

Amorim’s men have now won all six of their Primeira Liga matches, scoring 22 goals and conceding just two. They have scored three goals or more in every Liga match apart from against Porto, where they settled for a modest 2-0 win.

The overriding aim for the Green and Whites is to win back-to-back championships and thus become the first Sporting team to do so for 70 years.

But a secondary goal should be to strive to go down as one of the great Portuguese club sides in modern football history, such as André Villas-Boas’ Porto, Jorge Jesus’s first great Benfica side, or dare I say it, José Mourinho’s Porto. To do so they will have to maintain their form throughout the season and/or transpose their spectacular results onto the European stage. 

Sporting: Franco Israel, Ousmane Diomande, Zeno Debast, Nuno Santos, Matheus Reis (Iván Fresneda, 75’), Morten Hjulmand, Daniel Bragança (Hidemasa Morita, 69’), Geovany Quenda (Geny Catamo, 69’), Francisco Trincão (Ricardo Esgaio, 75’), Viktor Gyökeres, Conrad Harder (Maxi Araújo, 58’)

AVS: Guillermo Ochoa, Fernando Fonseca, Baptiste Roux, Cristian Devenish, Kiki Afonso, Gustavo Assunção (Giorgi Aburjania, 83’), Jaume Grau, Lucas Piazón (Luís Silva, 64’), Issiaka Kamate (Vasco Lopes, 46’), Babatunde Akinsola (Rafael Rodrigues, 46’), John Mercado (Samuel Granada, 63’)

Goals

[1-0] Conrad Harder, 15’

[2-0] Viktor Gyökeres, 45 + 4’

[3-0] Viktor Gyökeres, 70’