Bukayo Saka was one of our five goalscorers on a memorable night in the Portuguese capital, and could not hide his delight at the final whistle after a thumping 5-1 win.
Our in-form winger had already assisted Kai Havertz for our second of the night, before stepping up to ram home a penalty in the second half, just as Sporting had threatened to come back into the match.
It was his first-ever away goal in the Champions League, and afterwards, he was understandably delighted with his night’s work.
“I thought [his goal] did give us the momentum back," he said. "Against a team like this there’s always going to be a period where we’re under pressure, we conceded one but the rest of it we dealt with it quite well.
“We showed ourselves tonight on our top level. The away fans were top tonight I could hear them all game, I really enjoyed the atmosphere.”
Sporting went into the match having not lost in the league or Europe all season, boasting a 100 per cent home record and scoring at least twice in every game at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. But our fast start silenced the home fans, and we dominated our hosts for the majority of the game.
“I was most proud of not letting the occasion affect us,” Bukayo added. “We knew this was a big game, we lost our last Champions League game and we haven’t won away in Europe in many games. I don’t remember the last time we even scored a goal away in Europe. So we just went out there with full confidence like that didn’t even happen.
"We were top today so I’m really proud of that - I think it’s our biggest Champions League away win in over 20 years. We came and played against a top team who hasn’t lost at home this season so we’re really proud of ourselves and we need to keep going like this.”
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