Sporting beat Guimaraes to retain Primeira Liga title
Sporting pipped rivals Benfica to Portugal's Primeira Liga title after beating Guimaraes 2-0 on the final day of the season.
The Lisbon rivals started the day level on points but Sporting held top spot courtesy of a better head-to-head record.
Sporting knew a win would seal a second successive title and goals from Pedro Goncalves and Viktor Gyokeres delivered.
Benfica trailed at Braga after Rodrigo Martinez scored a penalty but Vangelis Pavlidis levelled in the second half.
Braga were reduced to 10 men shortly after conceding when Joao Moutinho was issued a second yellow card but Benfica were unable to find a winner.
It is Sporting's 21st league title and the third time they have topped the table in the past five seasons.
They began the 2024-25 campaign with 12 successive wins but the departure of manager Ruben Amorim to Manchester United in November disrupted their rhythm.
Joao Pereira, who replaced Amorim, lasted just 42 days in the post after winning only one of his four league games at the helm and three of eight fixtures across all competitions.
Rui Borges stepped in to steady the ship and guided Sporting to an unbeaten end to the season in the league, winning 13 and drawing six.
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Liverpool expect movement on £70m deal TODAY
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Club World Cup Group C: Will Bayern Munich reign supreme and can Auckland City's amateurs spring a shock?
Two of European football's most storied teams. An icon of the South American game. The side whose third-place finish at the 2014 Club World Cup stunned the world. Auckland City, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Boca Juniors form Group C of the 2025 Club World Cup, offering ample intriguing storylines. Is Bayern built to be this reformatted tournament's first champion? Will Benfica benefit from one final dose of Angel Di Maria's heroics? Can Boca overcome a recent dip to become a dark horse? Could the New Zealanders wreak similar havoc to 11 years ago? Here, The Athletic picks out the group favorites, the fun facts, and the storylines to watch. (All kick-offs ET/BST) June 15: Bayern Munich vs Auckland City (Cincinnati — 12pm/5pm) June 16: Boca Juniors vs Benfica (Miami; 6pm/11pm) June 20: Benfica vs Auckland City (Orlando; 12pm/5pm) June 20: Bayern Munich vs Boca Juniors (Miami; 9pm/2am June 21) June 26: Auckland City vs Boca Juniors (Nashville; 3pm/8pm) June 26: Benfica vs Bayern Munich (Charlotte; 3pm/8pm) Bayern — as is customary for any competition the German club enters. That said, Bayern was jolted back into proactivity last season when Bayer Leverkusen snapped its 11-season title streak. In came new manager Vincent Kompany to provide a more proactive and aesthetic play style, with the level-headedness that typified the Belgian's playing career at Manchester City helping ease tensions in a high-pressure locker room. Advertisement With much of the old guard that kicked off the decade of dominance phasing out, Kompany leaned heavily on the next generation. 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The secret to this club's success isn't just keeping and regaining more attacking touches than your opponent. Under Kompany, Bayern works to keep the ball away from the other team by amassing middle-third touches. Just under half of its time on the ball in the Bundesliga and Champions League (48.6 per cent) came in the middle third, while 31.1 per cent of touches came in Bayern's attacking third. It's an approach that keeps the defensive third at the other end of the field relatively untrampled, and one that offers a talented and balanced squad plenty of time to find an avenue to exploit a defense. In the early stages of a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim in its Bundesliga finale last month, Bayern aggressively worked to capitalize on an early goal by putting the game out of reach. As shown above, in build-up, Kompany's men ventured into a 2-4-4, mostly keeping their midfielders between the central third and the half-spaces while width came from a pair of touchline-hugging wingers. 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In this season's Champions League, Benfica played a more direct game than most and was happy to cede the balance of possession to the opponent. It launched 3.1 direct attackers per game, seventh among the 36 league phase entrants, while its field tilt of 41.1 per cent was 11th-leanest. Benfica still managed to attempt 14 shots per game, generating 2.2 'big' chances per game (11th) for a 'big' chance creation-rate of 21 per cent (12th). This game model helps mask an uncharacteristic lack of decisive quality in the final third; for a club where the youth academy regularly turns out promising attacking starlets and which can lure some impressive players to Lisbon, a 68.6 per cent pass completion rate in the final third was a poor 29th in the 36-strong field. So while Benfica had no issue getting the ball into advanced areas, the players often looked unsure of how to resolve those chances. Still struggling to replace Goncalo Ramos after his summer 2023 departure, last summer saw Benfica lose fellow goal threats David Neres and Marcos Leonardo, as well as dynamic midfielder Joao Neves. While summer acquisition Vangelis Pavlidis provided a credible goalscorer, leading the team with 29 goals from 53 matches in all competitions, Kerem Akturkoglu and Orkun Kokcu were more inconsistent alternatives. So while Benfica will hope for a parting gift of quality before Argentina's 2022 World Cup-winner Angel Di María returns to Rosario Central back home to end his career, this team's uneven nature could open the door for Boca to spring an upset. Advertisement At its best, Boca will look to break quickly. Chile international Carlos Palacios is the club's current playmaking savant, pulling the strings behind the veteran strike tandem of Edinson Cavani and Milton Gimenez. 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Al Hilal renew interest in Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez after Victor Osimhen blow
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