Suddenly, this place exploded, green and white going wild and why not? They had never experienced this before and what a way to do it. Sporting won their opening two Champions League games for the first time, two goals in added time giving them a victory over Tottenham Hotspur and leaving Antonio Conte standing there wondering what had just happened. He had talked about the importance of a strong squad, how substitutes can change games, and he was right but it was Paulinho and Arthur Gomes who came from the bench to do so.
“Maybe we didn’t deserve to win but at the same time I think we didn’t deserve to lose,” Conte said. This, he insisted, was a lesson in the “very high level” demanded by a competition where “mistakes are paid for.” On an entertaining evening when their former player Marcus Edwards drew a standing ovation for his moment of Maradona, Spurs had their chances to have won it and certainly did not expect to lose it, 22 shots not yielding a goal until normal time was up.
