Goncalves scores 2 as Sporting Lisbon beats Dortmund

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Pedro Goncalves made the most of defensive blunders to score twice as Sporting Lisbon beat 10-man Borussia Dortmund 3-1 on Wednesday to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage and eliminate its German opponent.

The win left Sporting second in Group C, three points ahead of Dortmund with a superior head-to-head record and one game to play.

Sporting will play in the knockout stage for the first time since the 2008-09 season after ending Dortmund’s three-year streak of reaching the last 16. Ajax has won the group after beating Besiktas 2-1 for its fifth win.

Dortmund arrived in Portugal missing several players including the injured Erling Haaland and coronavirus-positive Thorgan Hazard. The situation promptly got worse when left-back Raphael Guerreiro injured himself in the warm-up.

That proved fateful for Sporting’s first goal on the half-hour. Guerreiro’s replacement, Nico Schulz, had missed the last seven games with injury and looked rusty when he misjudged an incoming long pass, missed his interception and allowed Goncalves in behind the defense to score the opener.

Nine minutes later, Goncalves doubled Sporting’s lead when four Dortmund players focused on Pablo Sarabia, leaving a large empty space in the center. When the ball worked loose to Goncalves, he had plenty of time on the edge of the penalty area to hit a curling shot out of reach of goalkeeper Gregor Kobel.

Emre Can was brought on at halftime for the unfortunate Schulz as a makeshift full-back, but contributed little besides getting a straight red card for lashing out at an opponent and provoking a brawl in the 74th.

Soon after, Sporting made it 3-0 when Dortmund’s Dan-Axel Zagadou gave away a penalty for tackling Paulinho from behind in the penalty area. Goncalves stepped up to take the kick but a Kobel save denied him the hat trick, only for Pedro Porro to head in the rebound.

Dortmund’s best attack of the game came when it was three goals and a player down as Donyell Malen scored in stoppage time after Marco Reus flicked on a cross.

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