Sporting Stuns Tottenham in Champions League With Two Late Goals

Strikes in the 90th and 93rd minutes secured the three points for the Portuguese side and delivered defeat to Spurs.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Sporting scored in the 90th minute and again in stoppage time to beat Tottenham 2-0 on Tuesday and make it two wins from two to open the Champions League group stage.

Both goals came from substitutes — Paulinho and Arthur Gomes — as Tottenham slipped to its first loss of the season in all competitions.

Paulinho glanced in a header from a corner to the near post to give the lead to the Portuguese team, which spent most of the game under pressure and looking to hit Tottenham on the counterattack.

Gomes sealed the win in the third minute of added-on time when he cut in from the left wing on a solo run, darted between two Tottenham defenders and shot low past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

A Sporting stunner!

Paulinho scores off a 90th-minute corner kick to give the Portuguese host the lead over Tottenham! #UCL

(via @TUDNUSA) pic.twitter.com/P62mzranDe

— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) September 13, 2022

And Arthur Gomes seals the three points for Sporting! What a goal! #UCL

That nutmeg 🤤

(via @TUDNUSA) pic.twitter.com/E2Ryfz1Ftz

— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) September 13, 2022

Tottenham started Group D with a 2-0 win over Marseille last week but only after scoring late goals with the French team down to 10 men. Antonio Conte's team was poor going forward again against Sporting, with right wing back Emerson Royal — hardly known for his attacking prowess — having the visitors' two best chances in the second half.

Sporting has opened a Champions League group stage with back-to-back wins for the first time — it beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 away in the first matchday — and is impressing with its mobile front line led by Marcus Edwards, a former Tottenham academy product who was sold by the English club in 2019.

The undoubted highlight of an otherwise fairly low-quality match — at least before the late goals — came in first-half stoppage time when the 23-year-old Edwards embarked on a dribble from 50 meters out that took the breath away. He wriggled past two Tottenham players — Eric Dier and then Ivan Perisic — before exchanging a one-two with teammate Francisco Trincao, gliding past Cristian Romero and poking in a shot that was turned around the post by Lloris.

It explained why Mauricio Pochettino, who was manager at Tottenham when Edwards was there, compared the forward's style to Lionel Messi.

Tottenham's attack failed to function, with Son Heung-min — tied as the leading scorer in the Premier League last season — coming off in the 72nd minute. He is still without a goal in any competition this season.