Sports 20 July 2026

Sporting beat Strasbourg 7-0 in pre-season — and Zalazar christened his new shirt number with a goal

Doumbia struck early and Sporting demolished Strasbourg 7-0 at the Estádio Algarve, their second pre-season test. Zalazar scored from the spot.

Sporting demolished Strasbourg 7-0 on Monday night at the Estádio Algarve, in the second big test of their pre-season — a rout with a bit of everything: early goals, a debut penalty for a new arrival, and half the squad putting a hand up.

Who scored for Sporting?

Issa Doumbia opened after just four minutes with a firm finish inside the box, and from there it became a procession: Sergi Altimira added a second before the break, Silas Andersen a third after it, and Rodrigo Zalazar made it four from the penalty spot. Maxi Araújo gave the fifth a Uruguayan flavour, Geny Catamo struck the sixth, and Fotis Ioannidis closed the account late on, firing through the goalkeeper’s legs.

The night carried a symbolic footnote: the new season’s shirt numbers debuted in this match, with Zalazar inheriting Trincão’s old shirt, Nel taking Gyökeres’ number 9 and Ioannidis picking up Quenda’s. The Uruguayan, fresh from a World Cup where he scored twice for his country, broke in the new number the best way possible.

How is Sporting’s pre-season going?

At cruising speed. With Spain having wrapped up the World Cup on Sunday, club football roared back in the Algarve: the Lions had already beaten Celtic 4-1 in their first outing and saw off Portimonense in a hastily arranged friendly on Monday morning. Three games, three wins, zero goals conceded — the full preparation calendar is on Sporting’s official site.

For Strasbourg, in the Algarve for a training camp, the message was that plenty of work remains. For Sporting fans, the takeaway is the fun kind: in July, at least, nobody ever loses the league.

By Vasco Almada

Image: Vitor Oliveira from Torres Vedras, PORTUGAL / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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