Sporting win in London, but Amorim's balance is still missing

Sporting CP left London with the points, and that is the part that will matter most to Rui Borges. Issa Doumbia's 59th-minute goal, finished after good play from Suarez, Ioannidis and Andersen, gave Sporting a 1-0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night. It moved them to nine points from four Champions League matches, a record of three wins and one defeat, while Shakhtar stayed on four points from a possible twelve.

The scoreline, though, tells only part of the story. Shakhtar had 54 per cent of the ball and 14 shots to Sporting's 11. They also generated 1.96 expected goals against Sporting's 1.30, and won seven corners to Sporting's two. Reports from the match noted that Shakhtar looked the better side early on, and the raw numbers support that reading. This was not a night when Sporting controlled the game from the first whistle. It was a night when they survived the opening exchanges, improved after the break, and took one of the moments that came their way.

For anyone tracking Sporting's post-Amorim trajectory, the wider context is hard to ignore. Ruben Amorim left the club for Manchester United in November 2024 and was sacked by United on 5 January 2026 after 14 months in charge. The Sporting side he built in 2024/25 won all 11 of its opening Liga Portugal matches, at three points per game. Under Rui Borges in 2026/27, the league record so far is six wins, three draws and one defeat from ten games, at 2.1 points per game. That is a respectable return. It is not the same machine.

The squad has changed around Borges. Since the summer, Sporting have brought in Sergi Altimira, Silas Andersen, Issa Doumbia, Pedro Lima, Ibrahima Ba and Kaique Pereira. They have lost Hidemasa Morita, Morten Hjulmand, Giorgi Kochorashvili, Ousmane Diomande, Rodrigo Ribeiro and Trincão. That is a significant turnover in the middle and at the back, and it helps explain why the old balance has not simply reappeared. The players who gave Amorim's side its rhythm and its defensive certainty are no longer there. The replacements are still settling.

The contrast with Sporting's own recent form is striking. Across their earlier 2026/27 matches in all competitions, they averaged 57.6 per cent possession, 5.2 corners, 33.2 touches in the opposition box and 2.37 expected goals. Against Shakhtar, those figures were 46 per cent, two corners, 18 touches in the box and 1.30 expected goals. Their open-play expected goals dropped from an average of 2.05 to 1.11. This was, by some distance, a less assertive attacking performance than their season has generally produced.

That does not make the win lucky. Sporting had three big chances, the same as Shakhtar, and they took one of them. Doumbia's finish was the difference. But it does mean the result should be read as a snapshot of a team still recalibrating, not as proof that the old level has been restored. The same competition where Amorim's side once set the benchmark now shows a narrower margin.

Shakhtar, for their part, will feel they deserved more. They are playing their European home games at Stamford Bridge because of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and they remain mid-table in the league phase. On this evidence, they are competitive without being ruthless.

Sporting's position in the league phase is strong. Nine points from four matches is a platform. Whether the underlying numbers improve will determine whether that platform holds. The next matches will answer the question this one raised: how much of the Amorim-era machine is still missing, and how much of it Borges can rebuild.