# 2003–04 Sporting CP season

The 2003–04 season was Sporting CP's 97th season in existence and 70th consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football.

## Season Overview

The club had a disappointing season in the wake of teenage starlet Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to Manchester United and Mario Jardel's transfer to Bolton Wanderers in August 2003.
Sporting began the season with a 2-1 away victory over Academica Coimbra, thanks to a last minute winning goal from Beto. Sporting then had irregular form for the next 6 matchdays, but then went on an 18-match unbeaten run. Sporting's form started to decline towards the end of the season, starting with a heavy 4-0 loss to Rio Ave on 27 March 2004. Sporting won their next three matches after that to bounce back from the heavy loss, but then lost matches to Boavista, União Leiria, and then lost the Lisbon derby to Benfica thanks to a late goal by Geovanni in the penultimate round of the season, which ended their hopes of qualifying to the Champions League the following season.
In the Portuguese Cup, the club was eliminated in the fifth round, by Vitoria Guimaraes, after entering in the fourth round. In the UEFA Cup, the club was eliminated at home in the second round with three goals in less than ten minutes by Turkish club Gençlerbirliği after having drawn the first leg.

## Squad
### Goalkeepers

* Ricardo
* Nélson
* Tiago

### Defenders

* Facundo Quiroga
* Ânderson Polga
* Hugo
* Mário Sérgio
* Miguel Garcia
* Paíto
* Beto
* Luís Filipe
* Rui Jorge
* Santamaria
* Eduardo Maldea

### Midfielders

* Rui Bento
* Carlos Martins
* Pedro Barbosa
* Rodrigo Tello
* Paulo Bento
* Fábio Rochemback
* Custódio
* Clayton
* Toñito
* Tinga

### Attackers

* Marius Niculae
* Sá Pinto
* João Pinto
* Lourenço
* Elpídio Silva
* Liédson

## Competitions
### Primeira Liga
#### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Porto (C) | 34 | 25 | 7 | 2 | 63 | 19 | +44 | 82 | Qualification to Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Benfica | 34 | 22 | 8 | 4 | 62 | 28 | +34 | 74 | Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Sporting CP | 34 | 23 | 4 | 7 | 60 | 33 | +27 | 73 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Nacional | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 56 | 35 | +21 | 56 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
| 5 | Braga | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 36 | 38 | −2 | 54 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first round |
* ↑ Maritimo qualified for the UEFA Cup because Benfica, the Portuguese Cup winners qualified for Champions League

#### Matches

* Marítimo-Sporting 2-1
* 0-1 Liédson 23'
* 1-1 Marcelo Carioca 62'
* 2-1 Alan 90 + 6'
* Sporting-Beira-Mar 3-1
* 1-0 Liédson 9'
* 1-1 Sandro 25'
* 2-1 João Pinto 45'
* 3-1 Liédson 73'
* Alverca-Sporting 1-2
* 1-0 Torrão 8'
* 1-1 Fábio Rochemback 29' (pen.)
* 1-2 Liédson 53'
* Sporting-Rio Ave 1-1
* 0-1 Evandro 45'
* 1-1 Silva 84'
* Paços de Ferreira-Sporting 1-2
* 0-1 Pedro Barbosa 19'
* 1-1 Zé Manuel 52'
* 1-2 Pedro Barbosa 75' (pen.)
* Sporting-Braga 2-0
* 1-0 João Pinto 29'
* 2-0 Silva 59'
* Estrela Amadora-Sporting 1-4
* 0-1 Fábio Rochemback 16'
* 1-1 Júlio César 35'
* 1-2 Pedro Barbosa 40'
* 1-3 Liédson 67'
* 1-4 Liédson 89'
* Sporting-Boavista 1-0
* 1-0 Silva 32'
* Benfica-Sporting 1-3
* 0-1 Fábio Rochemback 8' (pen.)
* 0-2 Silva 33'
* 1-2 Luisão 56'
* 1-3 Sá Pinto 90 + 2'
* Sporting-Vitória Guimarães 2-1
* 0-1 Romeu 21'
* 1-1 João Pinto 31'
* 2-1 Pedro Barbosa 42'
* Sporting-Académica 2-0
* 1-0 Liédson 42'
* 2-0 Pedro Barbosa 90 + 1'
* Belenenses-Sporting 1-3
* 1-0 Marco Paulo 30'
* 1-1 Sá Pinto 33'
* 1-2 João Pinto 67'
* 1-3 Liédson 90 + 3'
* Sporting-Porto 1-1
* 0-1 Jorge Costa 9'
* 1-1 Pedro Barbosa 69' (pen.)
* Nacional-Sporting 3-3
* 0-1 Sá Pinto 39'
* 1-1 Gouveia 42'
* 2-1 Adriano 49'
* 2-2 Marius Niculae 62'
* 2-3 Lourenço 73'
* 3-3 Carlos Álvarez 87'
* Sporting-Moreirense 1-0
* 1-0 Fábio Rochemback 34'
* Gil Vicente-Sporting 1-1
* 1-0 Luís Loureiro 18' (pen.)
* 1-1 Carlos Martins 70'
* Sporting-Marítimo 1-0
* 1-0 Beto 81'
* Beira-Mar-Sporting 0-2
* 0-1 Pedro Barbosa 9' (pen.)
* 0-2 Fábio Rochemback 11'
* Sporting-Alverca 2-0
* 1-0 Carlos Martins 31'
* 2-0 Liédson 89'
* Rio Ave-Sporting 4-0
* 1-0 Evandro 16'
* 2-0 Jaime 25'
* 3-0 Paulo César 45'
* 4-0 Evandro 77'
* Sporting-Paços de Ferreira 1-0
* 1-0 Liédson 88'
* Braga-Sporting 2-3
* 0-1 Silva 11'
* 0-2 Liédson 31'
* 0-3 Pedro Barbosa 67' (pen.)
* 1-3 Henrique 75'
* 2-3 Henrique 85'
* Sporting-Estrela Amadora 4-0
* 1-0 Liédson 33'
* 2-0 Liédson 58'
* 3-0 Marius Niculae 78'
* 4-0 Liédson 82'
* Boavista-Sporting 2-1
* 0-1 Liédson 59'
* 1-1 Frechaut 83'
* 2-1 Fary Faye 88'
* União Leiria-Sporting 1-0
* 1-0 Alhandra 50'
* Sporting-Benfica 0-1
* 0-1 Geovanni 88'
* Vitória Guimarães-Sporting 0-2
* 0-1 Marius Niculae 73'
* 0-2 João Pinto 83'

### UEFA Cup
#### Matches

First Round
Second Round

## Player statistics

Top Scorers :
| Player | Goals |
| Liédson | 15 |
| Fábio Rochemback | 7 |
| Silva | 5 |
| João Pinto | 5 |