Lens vs Sporting CP, Doumbia scores first Champions League goal

Sporting CP left Lens with a 2-0 win and Issa Doumbia at the centre of it. The forward scored his first Champions League goal in the 74th minute, after Silas Andersen slipped a line-breaking pass into his path, while Luis Javier Suárez had already put Sporting ahead in the 22nd minute.

Lens paid for missed chances

Lens began brightly enough. Florian Thauvin forced a save from Pereira in the 6th minute, then Franjo Ivanović hit the post in the 34th, but neither chance changed the shape of the night. Foot Mercato described Lens as lacking offensive realism, and that was the story once Sporting took their moments.

Robin Risser made three saves, but Sporting were more clinical where it counted. Luis Javier Suárez's opener came from a cross by Nestory Irankunda, and the second goal arrived after Rui Borges had sent on Jesse Derry and Andersen only seconds earlier.

Doumbia's finish and Sporting's attacking depth

A Bola said Doumbia's goal was his first in a Sporting shirt in his 10th game for the club. The numbers from the night line up with that impression, too. Doumbia's 8.18 rating was the best among Sporting players, and Suárez matched him at 8.18 after scoring the opener.

There is also a neat sign for Sporting's wider attacking work. Irankunda supplied one assist, Andersen supplied one after coming off the bench, and both goals came from moves that moved quickly once the first pass landed. Sporting did not need to control the game for long spells to punish a home side that passed up two early openings.

The result leaves Sporting with a clean away win and Doumbia on the board in Europe. Their next Champions League outing will now carry the expectation that the same front line can keep turning half-chances into goals.