Irankunda won an early penalty and created chances against LASK, extending a run of influential performances for Sporting CP.
Nestory Irankunda is turning promising minutes at Sporting CP into tangible attacking influence. In Thursday’s 3-2 Champions League defeat to LASK in Lisbon, the Australian forward won the penalty that put Sporting ahead and created two chances, even as the result ended the club’s unbeaten start in the competition.
Early impact, sustained threat
Irankunda made his mark almost immediately. Within five minutes, he drew a foul from Robert Ljubicic, giving Luis Suarez the chance to put Sporting ahead from the penalty spot. An early goal can shape the rhythm of a match, but it didn’t end Irankunda’s involvement: he kept looking to attack directly, using his pace to challenge the defence and carry the ball into dangerous areas.
Before half-time, he cut in from the flank and hit a shot that LASK defender Alemao blocked. The attempt didn’t produce a goal, yet it showed the kind of intervention Sporting were getting from him: a willingness to turn possession into a direct threat. That’s a useful quality for a forward whose influence can be measured in the space and pressure he creates as well as in goals and assists.
Suarez scored twice and was Sporting’s standout, but Irankunda also rated highly. His 7.7 Sofascore mark was second-best for the team, behind Suarez’s 8.0. In 79 minutes, Irankunda recorded two key passes, two shots and two fouls won. Those figures describe an active performance, though they don’t tell the full story of how consistently he found the ball or how much defensive attention he drew.
A pattern across competitions
The 79-minute outing matched Irankunda’s longest appearance for Sporting this season. He also played 79 minutes against Braga on October 10, providing an assist in that league fixture. A longer run on the pitch gives a young attacker more opportunity to affect the game, but it also gives coaches a better view of how his decisions hold up beyond a brief substitute appearance.
His European form has produced a direct contribution in consecutive Champions League starts: he assisted Suarez in Sporting’s 2-0 win over Lens eight days before the LASK match, then helped create the opening goal against LASK by winning the penalty. The distinction matters. An assist is a direct final action; winning a penalty is a different route to the same outcome, and both indicate Irankunda is finding ways to influence attacks in high-profile matches.
The wider numbers point in the same direction. FotMob lists Irankunda first among Sporting players for expected assists per 90 minutes in domestic competition, at 0.35. That figure estimates the quality of chances a player creates, rather than counting only completed assists, so it offers one lens on his passing threat. Since joining from EFL Championship side Watford, he has registered two assists in eight appearances across all competitions. The sample is still limited, and the ranking doesn’t by itself establish how that output will hold across a longer run.
What the result and form suggest
Sporting have now lost their first Champions League match of the season, while sitting third in the Portuguese standings, six points off the pace. The defeat complicates the team’s European momentum, but Irankunda’s performance gives the club a separate point to assess: his attacking actions are beginning to recur across competitions. This is more significant than it looks, because repeated contributions offer a firmer basis for judging a player’s role than one standout cameo.
Four consecutive appearances give Sporting a growing body of evidence that his pace and chance creation can translate into regular influence. They don’t settle the question of whether he can sustain that influence or turn it into more goals and assists; those are different tests. If you’re following his progress, the useful signs are the continued minutes, the ability to create danger, and the fact that his work has mattered in consecutive European starts. Here's the thing: progress can be real even when the team loses.
For the coaching staff, the next measure is likely to be consistency in the details: whether Irankunda can keep making useful runs, create chances and contribute when opponents limit space. (And this is the part most people overlook.) The performance against LASK strengthens the case that he belongs in the conversation for a regular role, while leaving plenty for him to prove.
A promising run. Still a run in progress.
Discussion
Sign in to join the discussion.