Riding high on what was already their joint-best winning run since January 2023, Marseille settled much more quickly into proceedings and took just 15 minutes to draw first blood.
The goal was as sublime as it was simple, with a long cross-field ball from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang on the right flank finding Paixao, who curled a sublime shot into the far corner from the edge of the box.
With Rui Borges’ men struggling, the Brazilian’s third UCL strike this term then almost led to him turning provider immediately, after a giveaway allowed him to put Mason Greenwood in on goal, only for him to misfire under pressure.
Sporting then began to rally, but the real talking point was to erupt on the stroke of half-time, when an apparent Maximiliano Araujo foul on Emerson Palmieri inside the box led to a Marseille penalty.
However, referee Rade Obrenovic quickly went from villain to hero amongst the home faithful when a VAR review not only saw him overturn the original decision, but also send off Emerson, giving a second yellow card to the Italian defender just five minutes after he first went into the book for a handball.
Unsurprisingly, Sporting’s man advantage enabled them to dominate possession in the opening quarter-hour of the second half, and after Geovany Quenda hit the right-hand post at a narrow angle, the scorer of Sporting’s equaliser in their 2-1 matchday two loss at Napoli, Luis Suárez, had arguably the best chance of that period.
A layoff from captain Morten Hjulmand gave him the ball on almost the same blade of grass from which Paixão scored, but the Colombian could only blaze frustratingly wide.
Marseille’s lead was looking increasingly fragile as time ticked on, and its charmed life finally expired just five minutes after the fateful deployment of Geny Catamo in place of Quenda.
Pedro Goncalves took a key pass from Suárez in his stride, and he in turn fed the substitute, who fired in a low shot past Geronimo Rulli. Initially, the goal was disallowed, but a VAR review overturned the linesman’s decision, ensuring that Sporting’s run of scoring in major European group stage or league phase matches would reach 19 games.
With seven of Sporting’s previous nine UCL games having featured over 2.5 goals, the more superstitious folk amongst the Jose Alvalade’s sea of green and white would have harboured genuine hope of their heroes completing the turnaround.
And that faith would be repaid with just five minutes of the 90 remaining, when Alisson Santos jinked infield from the left flank and hit a speculative shot from range that deflected off Benjamin Pavard and looped over Rulli. It would prove to be decisive, giving Sporting only their second success in nine UCL matches, but undoubtedly one that could spur them onto better days.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Geny Catamo (Sporting CP)