Sporting Boss Jorge Jesus Believes His Side Showed the Rest of Europe What They Are Capable of

During a night where neither team were able to get a real grip on the game, Barcelona ran out eventual winners thanks to a fortunate own goal from Sebastian Coates. 

Despite Sporting's perseverance both in the final third and defensively, they couldn't quite manage to unlock a Barca side who continued their impressive defensive record this season, having conceded just twice in all competitions.

Despite the loss, Sporting Lisbon remain second in group D, and are level with Juventus on points, whose victory will come as a relief after being crushed by Barcelona on matchday one.

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Former Benfica and now (controversially) current Sporting boss Jorge Jesus believe his side showed the rest of Europe that they are a force to be reckoned with after keeping Barcelona's magic under lock and key throughout the majority of the match.

As reported by FourFourTwo, Jesus said, "At the break I told my players we could beat Barcelona.

"I felt I knew what we had to do to win. We ended up losing to a freak own goal.

"Against the world’s second-best team, we performed spectacularly. We shut off all their main passing routes in the first half. In the second half we controlled the ball better.

"Having said that, it’s difficult to create big chances against Barcelona. I feel Sporting left a great image of an excellent team on the watching world."

Sporting travel to Turin to face Juventus in matchday three, in which both teams will desperately need to win if they are looking to occupy that second place spot to gain qualification to the next round.