SPORTING LISBON
Young Sithole follows in Ronaldo’s footsteps
South African youngster Sphephelo Sithole has followed in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo by making his bow for the Under-19 side of Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon. Sithole came off the bench for Sporting in the 2-0 Uefa Youth League home win over Italian side Juventus on Tuesday‚ after having been an unused substitute against Barcelona. The competition is essentially a Champions League for teams in the Under-19 age group and features some of the best players in the world at this level. It is a major step forward for the highly rated 18-year-old midfielder‚ who joined Sporting from the KwaZulu-Natal Academy in July. Tall and powerful‚ Sithole is in a similar mould to Bongani Zungu‚ whose game was also well-suited to Portugal before he left Vitória Guimarães for Amiens in France’s Ligue 1 at the start of this campaign. The Sporting Under-19 side are second in their Uefa Youth League Group D behind unbeaten Barca‚ with Greek side Olympiakos the other team in the pool. The league...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.