Sheffield Wednesday’s first game of their training week in Portugal ended in defeat on Sunday evening at the hands of Sporting Lisbon. An early goal in each half was enough to see the Portuguese Premier League side run out 2-0 winners.
Dave Jones gave starts to new signings Anthony Gardner, Kieran Lee, Nejc Pecnik and Chris Maguire. The vast majority were caught by surprise when Wednesday fielded little known Portuguese youngster Carlos Henriques in goal.
Sporting started with the likes of former Liverpool defender Emiliano Insua, ex-Man City midfielder Gelson Fernandes, on-time Barcelona winger Jeffren, Spanish international Diego Capel and Dutch international Stijn Schaars.
Portuguese under 21 international Andre Martins opened the scoring shortly after the 10-minute mark. The youngster slotted home from close range having been picked out by highly-regarded Dutch striker Ricky Van Wolfswinkel.
Lisbon further underlined their quality when they introduced experienced internationals Elias, Danijel Pranjc, Oguchi Onyewu and Khalid Boulahrouz at half-time.
The Owls made changes of their own as new defender Joe Mattock was introduced along with on-trial forward Marlon Harewood who partnered Ryan Low in attack.
The result was confirmed with just over 20 minutes to go as Van Wolfswinkel converted a good pass from Elia.
Wednesday chances were few and far between but they gave a fair account of themselves against a very strong side and at this stage of the preparations the focus is on match fitness and developing an understanding rather than results.
The Owls next warm up game in Portugal is against Reading in 2 days where they may well line up against transfer target Michail Antonio.
Source: FOOTYMAD
