Ton up no comfort for Sporting's Liedson

Liedson was in no mood to celebrate his 100th and 101st goals for Sporting Clube de Portugal after his side were pegged back at the last by AS Roma in their UEFA Champions League Group F clash at the Estádio José Alvalade.

'Hoped for more'
The Brazilian, who arrived in Lisbon early in the 2003/04 season, reached his century with a first-half tap-in after a collision between Philippe Mexes and Doni. Unfortunately for Liedson, his second goal of the night did not turn out to be the winner as Sporting were agonisingly pegged back by the unlucky Anderson Polga's last-minute own goal. "We hoped for more from the game, and with a bit more luck we could have held on for the win," Liedson said. "We deserved to win after dominating. We started badly, and it's always tricky after conceding a goal against a team like Roma, but we came back into the game well."

Off the mark
The 29-year-old striker acknowledged the importance of getting his first UEFA Champions League brace, after breaking his duck in the game at the Olimpico Stadium 15 days ago, saying: "It's good to score goals, and goals in important games." However he admitted his side face an uphill struggle to qualify after taking just a single point from their double header with the Italians. "It's more difficult now, of course, but we will keep going while it is still mathematically possible [to qualify]." His team-mate Miguel Veloso agreed. "We have to believe and dream a little."

'Important result'
Roma midfielder Simone Perrotta was unsurprisingly more upbeat, recognising that securing a point put his team in the driving seat for a place in the next round. "It's an important result for us to qualify," he said. "We are still three points ahead of Sporting." Perrotta paid tribute to Roma's opponents, conceding that his side had endured a tough night. "[Sporting are] one of the strongest teams that I have played against," he added. "They are very good technically and different from other Portuguese teams as they play more direct football in attack. They don't spend most of the time just in midfield. Their second goal was wonderful."

Next step
The midfielder felt, however, that Roma deserved their draw for refusing to give up. "We have to analyse the whole match and I think a draw is a fair result," he insisted. He said the Serie A runners-up would endeavour to improve on their performance as they aim to seal their passage to the knockout phase in their next match, against FC Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine. "We have to look to all the positive things that we've done and not the negative ones," said Perrotta.