Chapter 4 First Debut in Champions League

17/10/2000

Champions League first group phase game 4, Sporting Lisbon faces Spartak Moskva at home and lost with the score 2-3.

16' minutes, Dimas's mistakes make an own goal help Spartak Moskva open the score 1-0.

52' minutes, Yegor Titov scores to help Spartak Moskva lead 2-0.

68' minutes, Yegor Titov scores his second goal in the game and rewrites the score 3-0.

70' minutes, coach Inácio let Quaresma his debut in the Champions League cause now the team loses three-goal and does not have a fighting spirit.

80' minutes, Quaresma suddenly runs into the middle from the wing and makes a trivela to the far corner to help Sporting shorten the goal 1-3.

90+1' minutes, Quaresma successfully snatches the ball from the defender to face the keeper inside the penalty area and makes the ball fly to the top corner, helping change the score 2-3 but it was late.

After the game, teammates recognize Quaresma's strength and be more friendly with him.

Because inherited all of Quaresma's talent and character so when he touches the ball, he always wants to make a fancy move to break through opponents with low success but now Quaresma wants to change his wild play style and needs to suppress his character, that has to take a lot of time.

21/10/2000

In round 8 of the league, Sporting plays against Porto and goes home with a draw 1-1.

71' minutes, Pena helps Porto open the score 1-0 to take the lead.

75' minutes, Quaresma gets in the field to replace Rodrigo.

Quaresma has his first touch in the game and he begins to move to the right, left-wing, dribbling faster to shake the opponent's balance but does not have much success.

85' minutes, Quaresma uses speed to take the ball inside the penalty area and shoot to the far corner, rewriting the score 1-1.

This is Quaresma's first goal in Primeira Liga but he still has many cumbersome dribbles and needs to improve his play style and suppress his wildness.

25/10/2000

Champions League first group phase game 5, Sporting Lisbon plays against Real Madrid at Bernabéu stadium and suffers a loss 4-2.

12' minutes, Guti helps Real take the lead with the score 1-0.

42' minutes, Sávio changes the score to 2-0.

Morientes scores his two goals in 62' and 70' minutes of the game to rewrite the score 4-0.

72' minutes, Quaresma gets a chance to play.

Quaresma begins to move freely to find a chance to make a counterattack and he was juggling his cool, fancy skills on the court which is hard to suppress his wild character.

80' minutes, Quaresma suddenly cut inside from the wing to make a shot and score to pull back a goal for Sporting 1-4.

90' minutes, Quaresma quickly rushes inside the penalty area to receive a cross from teammates and makes a toe poke shot to change the score 2-4.

The game ended and Sporting Lisbon was bottom of the group with 1 point.

29/10/2000

In round 9 in Liga, Sporting Lisbon plays against a weak team like Beira-Mar and has a hard victory with the score 1-0, Pedro Barbosa's only goal of the game in 78' minutes, Quaresma sits on the bench in this game.

03/11/2000

In round 9 of the league, Sporting Lisbon vs União de Leiria has an easy victory with a score of 4-0.

1' minute, right-wing defender Bilro makes a mistake and has an own goal to help Sporting Lisbon lead 1-0.

Pedro Barbosa scores two-goal in 22' and 43' minutes in the game to change the score to 3-0.

88' minutes, André Cruz scores a goal to end the game with the score 4-0.

In this game, Quaresma continues to appear on the bench cause coach Inácio still trusts an old player than a young player like Quaresma.

Quaresma knows that he can not have much trust from teammates and coach because of his age so he can only focus on practice to have a chance to appear on the bench list.

07/11/2000

Champions League first group phase game 6, Sporting Lisbon plays against Bayer Leverkusen at home José Alvalade stadium and the game ends with the score 1-0 for Sporting.

70' minutes, Quaresma came into the court to replace João Pinto.

85' minutes, Quaresma uses speed to rush into the penalty area to receive a pass-through the space between two defenders and make a toe poke shot to end the game with a score of 1-0.

Pos Team Points

1 Real Madrid (+5) 13

2 Spartak Moscow (+4) 12

3 Bayer Leverkusen(-4) 6

4 Sporting CP (-5) 4

This is the first time Quaresma participate in a Champions League but he has 5 goals in three games and the last 30' minutes of every game, he just scores 1 goal in the Portuguese league in 1 game plays.