Sporting Lisbon of Portugal continued its strong start in the Champions League with a valuable victory away from home over Lens of France, 2-0, on Tuesday, at the opening of the second round of the league stage.
Saudi international Saud Abdul Hamid participated in Lance’s starting lineup for the first time in nearly two months, after his return from the injury that prevented him from participating with the Saudi national team in the “Gulf 27,” in which Al-Akhdar won the title, as his last participation in a Lance jersey dates back to the match that beat Auxerre 5-2 in the French League on August 22 of last year.
Saud left the field in the 62nd minute in favor of his Polish colleague, Michel Skouras.
The Portuguese team ended the first half ahead with a goal by its striker and top scorer, Luis Javier Suarez, in the 22nd minute.
Issa Doumbia added the second goal for the visitors in the 74th minute.
Thus, Sporting Lisbon achieved its second victory in a row after winning 3-1 over Galatasaray in Turkey in the first round, raising its score to 6 points, and temporarily sitting at the top while awaiting the rest of the round’s results.
As for Lance, his score stood at 3 points after his victory in the first round over Slavia Prague, Czech Republic, with a score of 3-2.
In the third round, Sporting Lisbon will play at home against Austria's LASK, while Lens will face off against Club Brugge of Belgium.
Spanish coach Unai Emery, coach of Aston Villa, wants his team to take advantage of its home advantage again, when it hosts Fenerbahce in Turkey in the Champions League.
The team's strong performance at Villa Park in Birmingham has always been one of the main factors behind Aston Villa's rise to the top of English football, qualifying them to compete in the European Championship for the second time in three years.
But the team is going through a difficult period at home this season, as it lost two matches and tied three out of the first three matches it played there.
This may be partly due to the team playing in front of the stands on only three sides of the stadium this season, due to the ongoing renovation work in the northern stand in preparation for the European Championship (Euro 2028), where construction work affects the general atmosphere.
But Emery believes that the time has come to correct the course and achieve a positive result against the Turkish team on Wednesday evening.
Emery said in a press conference on Tuesday: “We are realistic about the way we work and we strive to improve things.” But what we have achieved is not enough yet, so we are holding a lot of discussions with the team, whether in meetings or through analyzing video clips, and we are also working on training to show this improvement in matches.”
He added, according to the British news agency “PA Media”: “We have not yet achieved victory at Villa Park, so it is very important that we know how to improve our performance in order to get closer to achieving victory. Tomorrow’s match represents an excellent opportunity to take a step forward in this improvement, and to enable the players to gain confidence and feel comfortable.”
He continued, saying: “Villa Park is a very special place for us, and the atmosphere there should be similar to what we have experienced throughout the four years we have spent here, as we have established its position as a special place and an impregnable fortress for us. “Tomorrow’s match represents a new challenge to prove that.”
The Spanish coach of Paris Saint-Germain, Luis Enrique, on Tuesday defended English Manchester City, which was convicted of more than 100 violations of the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018, considering that it “deserves the titles” it won during that period.
At the end of last month, an independent committee affiliated with the English Premier League concluded that City artificially boosted its sporting growth after the acquisition of it by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the ruling family in the Emirates, in 2008.
It focused on the fact that the club specifically inflated its revenues and reduced its costs by up to one billion euros through sham commercial agreements with companies from the Gulf state.
Although the club appealed the decision, many in England demanded the withdrawal of the titles the club won between 2009 and 2018, including three in the league.
“We have to wait for the final decision from the parties that must make it,” Enrique said on the eve of the match with the English team in the Champions League, which Saint-Germain won in the past two seasons. We are waiting, and I hope that things will end well for Manchester City, because I think what he did during those years on the field was amazing.”
He added: “The titles we win on the field stay there. They deserve to win it, and I hope they can avoid this punishment. "This is my feeling."
The Spanish coach also downplayed the importance of this confrontation, recalling that the European season will actually be determined starting in the spring and not in the fall.
He explained: “This result (which will be achieved on Wednesday) has nothing to do with what will happen in the future. After January, it's the month when you can see the true level of the team... After five or six months, it becomes completely different. “A lot of teams change.”
He added, "But it is an interesting match at this time, and it is fun to watch, and it also constitutes an incentive for us to try to play again at the level we want."
Ousmane Dembélé, who attended the press conference minutes before his coach, adopted the same approach, saying: “We will not send a message to all of Europe, as we are still in the month of October.” The season is still long. It is important for us to finish the stage (the unified group stage) within the top eight, even if playing in the play-off does not bother us, as it served us well,” referring to the two titles the Parisian club won in the past two seasons after playing in the play-off to qualify for the eighth final.
