As the Liverpool team bus pulled away from the Stadium Aurelio Pereira on Tuesday afternoon, there was a tangible sense of what might have been.
"A horrible way to end our run," says coach Barry Lewtas. "Personally I feel sorry for the lads."
Liverpool's under-19 side had every reason to be aggrieved after their UEFA Youth League hopes were dashed by a controversial 65th-minute goal from Sporting forward Rodrigo Ribeiro that was allowed despite Reds centre-back Lee Jonas clearly being impeded as he looked to clear.
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It meant Liverpool have still to progress beyond the quarter-finals of the competition having been eliminated at that stage for the third time. And Lewtas was particularly disappointed that, for the second round in succession, his players were on the receiving end of a hotly-debated decision.
"We got through against Porto in the last 16 but to have the decision of the penalty given against us, and then to have this one against Sporting, it was real sickener," he says. "You don't talk about the Porto one much because we got through, but this latest one was a clear foul. I've watched it back, and the referee looked like he was about to blow and that makes it even worse, really.
"I'm not saying we'd have gone on to win the game, but if that's disallowed it's 0-0 and it might have gone to penalties. But as a group we can't legislate for that. Everyone makes mistakes and we told the boys they can only control what they control.
"The players were distraught. They were really upset afterwards. We knew coming here would be a really tough game against good opposition on a pitch that was really difficult to play on. I thought we acquitted ourselves really well and at half-time it was an even game. In the second half we knew they what pace they had in transition and that would be a problem, but to lose the game in that manner was so disappointing."
Liverpool had already been dealt an early blow when losing Ben Doak with a suspected concussion following a sickening clash of heads. The 16-year-old winger appeared in distress as he was helped off, but passed pitchside checks and later seemed fine when flying back with the squad. The Reds will continue to follow FA concussion protocols.
Lewtas, though, was impressed with how Liverpool responded to losing their star man for much of the game. "The boys aren't daft," he says. "They know Ben is a big player for us. When Ben went off, I thought Ranel Young did ever so well when he came on. But I don't think Ben going off knocked the lads, which was my big worry at the time.
"Ben was a big part of how we wanted to play but we adapted really well. He felt a little bit unwell afterwards and while this was a huge competition, we wouldn't take any risks with the players so that's why we had no issue replacing him so early."
Injuries and suspensions in attack meant midfielder James McConnell was tasked with augmenting two wide men with central runs, with Lewtas impressed with the 18-year-old's adaptability.
"James had the number nine shirt on but we played with a midfield box, really," he adds. "He played not as a striker and that caused Sporting lots of problems in the first half. The plan was to have Ben and Melkamu Frauendorf run in behind. I don't think Sporting knew when to pick up our players at times.
"We knew once we conceded we needed an outlet as the game was stretched, so we brought Figgy (Keyrol Figueroa) on and he was unlucky a couple of times when he came on."
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