Can João Pereira yet make it as a successful Sporting Clube de Portugal coach? Ruben Amorim’s under-pressure successor has followed a 4-game losing run by guiding his team to two hard-fought and nervy wins, against Boavista in the Liga on Saturday, and versus Santa Clara in the Portuguese Cup tonight.
A second-half goal by Conrad Harder from a brilliant Geovany Quenda cross seemed to have won the game for Sporting at Alvalade, but Pedro Ferreira scored a dramatic equaliser in the 8th minute of stoppage time to send the game into extra time.
With a penalty shootout looming, Viktor Gyökeres pounced on a loose back pass by Frederico Venâncio to round the goalkeeper, slot home and send the Lions into the quarter-finals of the competition.
