A tough trip to Portugal awaited with the hosts unbeaten in the League Phase. After a fairly even opening 45 minutes, City looked to take control of the game more in the second half.
But despite it being our best moments in the match, Denilson Santos and Gabriel Silva scored a goal each in less than 10 minutes to swing the game in favour of Sporting.
And Wilkinson believes the match was an example of fine margins that separated the two sides.
“I thought the game looked as we expected in terms of two good teams,” began Wilkinson.
“The first half was tough, we cancelled each other out a little bit but we stayed in the game which I think is important in these games away from home and in Europe against good sides.
MATCH REPORT | SPORTING CP 2-0 CITY
“I got the chance to get the lads in at half-time and speak about one or two things. And I thought we started the second half really well so it was a real sucker punch to concede off our throw-in.
“There are definitely things to learn off because it had a big effect on the game, having started the second half so well and it was just a couple of individual mistakes. And probably one we’d look back on and be disappointed to concede.
“After the first goal I think we responded well,” the Lead Coach continued. “And again got done on the transition and no one was able to get out and block which is what we would have expected in that situation.
“In the first 15 minutes of the second half we probably had our best 15 minutes of the game but in that moment we conceded two goals in transitions.
“What we know about this competition is that when you play against the top teams, if we’re not 100% at it, you lose the big moments and I felt that was probably what happened today.
“For us now, it’s just about focusing on the next game against Feyenoord when we get to that point and trying to win that game.
“I’ve got no doubt that on our day we’re capable of competing and going quite deep in the competition,” said Wilkinson.
“I just think when we come against these top teams, we need to find a way to come out on top of the small margins which in the two games we’ve lost this season, we’ve lost those big moments.
“And I think that’s the thing for the player to take away from today, just making sure that for 95 minutes our concentration is there on every detail.”
Watch Wilkinson’s post-match interview in full via the video above…
