Aves Add To Sporting Turmoil

The build-up to the Portuguese Cup Final was all about the high-profile meltdown at Sporting.

- Tom Kundert

The Lisbon club’s players had been attacked by their own supporters during a training session, the president and the squad were at war, and coach Jorge Jesus was apparently about to be sacked. By the end of the match, however, the story had shifted to the momentous achievement by a team from a town of just 8,000 inhabitants.

Two goals by striker Alexandre Guedes, a former youth player at Sporting, earned Clube Desportivo das Aves a thoroughly deserved 2-1 victory and provided an enduring image at the Estadio Nacional as Aves fans, who were packed into a small section of the venue, joyously celebrated with the players in the early evening sunshine in an arena otherwise laid bare by the disappointed Sporting followers who had long since left.