Di Matteo relaxed after victory

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New Schalke boss Roberto Di Matteo insisted the win was all that mattered in the end as Sporting's comeback came dangerously close to spoiling his first Champions League game in charge of the Royal Blues.


The Germans threw away a 3-1 second-half lead against 10-man Sporting to be level at 3-3 heading into time added on before a last-gasp Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting penalty decided the match.

Di Matteo knows all about the thrills of spills of the Champions League from Chelsea's remarkable run to the title in 2012 and the Italian knows his new team are still a work in progress.

"It was an eventful game," he said on the club website. "We played very good football in parts and had the game under control.

"If you lead 3-1 with a man advantage, you have to control the game until the final whistle. But I said after our win over Hertha Berlin (Schalke won 2-0 over Hertha in Di Matteo's first game in charge last weekend) that we needed some time.

"We still have to work on our organisation in defence and attack.

"After it went 3-2 we lost the plot a bit. With the equaliser our defensive set-up was not good.

"But in the end all that counts is the three points. We are very happy that we could still win this game. That we got a penalty in stoppage time was of course lucky. But football is like that sometimes."

The win was Schalke's first in Group G and lifted them up to second place, three points clear of Maribor and four of Sporting