Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Preview: Team News & Prediction
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Last season’s UEFA Champions League runners’ up Borussia Dortmund can save their season with another deep run into Europe as they face a Sporting CP side left shellshocked last week.
Kick-off date/time: Wednesday 19th February, 2025: UK – 5:45pm / US ET – 12:45pm / US PT – 9:45am
How to watch on TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – CBS Sports
How to watch online: UK – Discovery+ / US – Amazon Prime & Paramount+
Borussia Dortmund Preview: A response under Kovac
Borussia Dortmund, as mentioned, reached the final of the UEFA Champions League last month but the hosts underwhelmed in the Bundesliga and that trend has once again continued this season, even with Niko Kovac now replacing Nuri Sahin in the Dortmund dugout.
They pulled off a surprise but very impressive 3-0 hammering of Sporting CP at the Estadio Jose Alvalade last weekend in the first-leg of this tie but most recently suffered an equally, if not more so, defeat to struggling Bochum in the league at the weekend.
Sporting CP Preview: European dream blown
In that 3-0 loss to Dortmund in Lisbon last week, second-half strikes from Serhou Guirassy, Pascal Gross and Karim Adeyemi condemned Sporting to a humiliating loss that has all but eliminated them from a competition they would have wanted to go deep in to.
Sporting were the talk of the continent in the autumn with their 4-1 hammering of Manchester City but Ruben Amorim’s departure to Manchester United in November has led to a stagnation that has seen Benfica close the gap to just two points domestically, too.
Borussia Dortmund Team News: Nothing fresh
Carney Chukwuemeka joined Dortmund on loan from Chelsea a couple of weeks ago and has been included in their UCL squad but he is unavailable for this one due to injury alongside both Ramy Bensebaini and Felix Nmecha.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Kobel; Ryerson, Can, Schlotterbeck, Svensson; Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Bynoe-Gittens; Guirassy
Unavailable: Bensebaini (Injured), Nmecha (Injured), Chukwuemeka (Injured)
Questionable:
Sporting CP Team News: Hjulmand returns
Denmark international midfielder Morten Hjulmand has returned from suspension so could be involved for this week. They do still have some key long-term injury absentees such as Nuno Santos and Pedro Goncalves. Key man Francisco Trincao and Viktor Gyokeres are also both unavailable.
Predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Silva; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Reis; Debast, Hjulmand; Quenda, Braganca, Araujo; Harder
Unavailable: Santos (Injured), Goncalves (Injured), Catamo (Injured), Trincao (Injured), Gyokeres (Injured)
Questionable: St. Juste (Injured), Braganca (Injured)
Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Prediction
Borussia Dortmund are dealing with the possibility of finishing in the bottom-half of the Bundesliga and it could well be that winning this competition is their only hope of qualifying for European competition next season. They now face a Sporting side that will attempt to come out ‘all guns blazing’ with a three-goal deficit. That could end up being quite an entertaining encounter so both teams scoring would appear a good bet for this one at the Westfalenstadion.
Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Tip: Both teams to score
