This was the Lions first League Cup Final victory in three attempts. It was also sweet revenge after losing the first ever final, ten years ago, when they lost on penalties to Vitoria Setúbal at the Algarve Stadium.
Sporting manager, Jorge Jesus, made two changes from the starting squad that overcame FC Porto on penalties in the semi-final. Bryan Ruiz and Fredy Montero came in for the injured Gelson Martins with Marcos Acuña dropped to the bench.
Vítoria de Setúbal manager, José Couceiro, also made two changes from their semi-final win against Oliveirense, swapping Patrick and Andre Sousa for Vasco Fernandes and Arnold Issoko.
Jorge Jesus had picked out Gonçalo Paciência as the danger man in the Setúbal attack and it did not take the young striker long to make his mark.
Just moments after kick-off, Paciência found some room just beyond the box after shaking off Sebastian Coates and fired past Rui Patricio to give the Sadinos a shock lead. Sporting struggled to deal with the threat of Paciência, who was in rampant mood, winning possession several times in midfield and driving the attack forward.
Jesus made two changes at half-time, taking off Ruben Ribeiro and Bryan Ruiz, to be replaced by Acuña and Rodrigo Battaglia. But it was the underdogs who had the first good opportunities of the second-half when Paciência forced Patricio into a save and João Teixeira put a shot just wide of goal.
Sporting began to gain the ascendancy as Coates put a header just wide and Bas Dost forced Setúbal keeper Pedro Trigueira into a save just moments later. Fifteen minutes from time amidst some frantic action in front of Trigueira’s goal, Tomás Podstawski appeared to have blocked a Bas Dost shot with his hand.
After consulting the Video Assistant Referee, referee Rui Costa awarded Sporting a penalty and Bas Dost stepped up and converted to level the score. For the second time in seven days, Vitoria Setúbal had held Sporting to a 1-1 draw.
This year’s Taça da Liga would be decided on penalties. In the shootout, Podstawski completed a night to forget by firing his penalty against the crossbar. It was left to William Carvalho, who missed his attempt in the semi-final against Porto, to slot home the winning penalty.