Sporting smiled again on their way to becoming national champions this Tuesday (16), beating Famalicão (0-1) in Minho and celebrating yet another triumph with gusto.

The Leones built their victory with great pragmatism and a sense of reality; the importance of having the ball, the most precious commodity in soccer.

Sporting Lisbon, where Mozambican Geny Catamo plays, gradually built up their all-important victory in Famalicão and with it, with five games to go, they stole Benfica's faint hope and left their title passport ready and open for a simple and inevitable stamp.

According to the newspaper The BallThe Lions dominated throughout the first half and bossed the game. Not in an overwhelming way, but with a very defined criterion that involved a coolness of display, no rush to score, prioritizing safe play, even when they lost the ball, after all, the most precious commodity in soccer. And that's why Sporting were rigorous in their movement, responsible and mature, benefiting greatly from the quality of their possession, the immediate pressure they applied to stop Famalicão's counter-attacks and the individual imbalance of Trincão (in dribbling), Gyokeres (in power) and Pedro Gonçalves (in precision).

A goal from Pote in the 20th minute gave more reason to believe in consistency over exuberance and it's true that, until half-time, only Sporting could have scored again.

Right after the break, Rúben Amorim insisted on the signs of total safety on the road to the title. He replaced Diomande, already on a yellow card, with Eduardo Quaresma. He knew that this was the most dangerous flank, because Chiquinho was causing a lot of problems and as time went on it would be natural for Famalicão to go all out and, with more dynamics and people in attack, that would always be the most vulnerable side. When Catamo went off injured, Amorim brought on Esgaio, but when he replaced Nuno Santos, he swapped him for Fresneda and made Esgaio, who was also quickly shown a card, finish the match on the left, much more calmly.

Sporting suffered in the last quarter of an hour of the game. Not so much because of any notable dangers, but because defensive concentration became crucial. The whole team felt obliged to do their hard work. In the end, everyone felt it had been worth it.