It is, to say the least, unusual to think that Islam Slimani did not know that Sporting provided meals at the Alcochete gym, eating pizzas and noodles for a year. But it's true. Now 37 years old and linked to the Romanians of Cluj, the Algerian striker went back to the 2013/14 season, when he opened the doors to Europe in Alvalade. «I was hungry when I arrived at Sporting. I went to training, came home and ate a frozen pizza for lunch. I also ate noodles, tuna and margarine. I slept a little, drank coffee and what I didn't eat for lunch was left over for the night or the next day. I did that for a year, I never went to a restaurant and I didn’t know how to cook.” «Sporting gave lunch at the gym, but I didn't know. I was so focused that I was going home straight away,” he revealed in an interview with journalist Colin Dicanot, ensuring that he was never asked about this dietary routine option. Slimani represented Sporting between 2013 and 2016, in addition to a brief spell in 2022, totaling 123 games, 61 goals and nine assists. Almost 13 years ago, Leonine SAD paid 300 thousand euros to Algerians Belouizdad, seeing the investment rewarded by the 31 million paid by Leicester in 2016.