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November 4 2024, 18:10 · Alex Sarwar

Sporting Lisbon vs Man City Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase

Sporting Lisbon vs Man City Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase
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Ruben Amorim’s final Champions League match as Sporting Lisbon head coach sees him face Man City, the club he’ll soon be battling on a regular basis as he takes charge of inter-city rivals Man Utd later this month.

KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Tuesday November 5th 2024: UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm

HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports 1 / US – CBS Sports

HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – discovery+ / US – Paramount+

SPORTING LISBON PREVIEW: EVENTS OFF THE PITCH DOMINATING THOSE ON IT

It’s been a dramatic last week or so for Sporting Lisbon, who are set to lose the services of head coach Ruben Amorim. The 39-year-old has agreed to join Man Utd after the Premier League side met his buyout clause and the visit Pep Guardiola’s Man City serves as Amorim’s last game in charge of Sporting at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, with his final game as head coach away to Braga on Sunday.

Whilst it’s easy to focus on Amorim’s impending departure, this is a very important Champions League fixture for Sporting, who have beaten both Lille and Sturm Graz so far across the league phase, with a draw away at PSV Eindhoven sandwiched in-between. A win here would leave them extremely well-placed heading into the second half of the league phase.

MAN CITY PREVIEW: INJURY-RAVAGED CITY SMARTING AFTER UNBEATEN LEAGUE RUN COMES TO AN END

Man City’s club record unbeaten run came to an end after 33 games this past weekend as they lost 2-1 to Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. Injuries to the likes of Rodri, Ruben Dias and Kevin De Bruyne finally took their toll on Pep Guardiola’s side and after going two goals down, they failed to come back, despite a couple of golden chances late on to snatch a draw.

In the Champions League, Man City have accumulated seven points and are coming off the back of consecutive victories. They are also yet to concede a goal across the league phase, a surprise when considering their struggles to shut out the opposition in the Premier League.

SPORTING LISBON TEAM NEWS: INACIO NOT TRAINED AND UNLIKELY TO FEATURE

With Goncalo Inacio having missed the final training session prior to Tuesday game and Eduardo Quaresma probably not fit enough to start, Amorim is likely to play Matheus Reis at left-centre-back next to Ousmane Diomande and Zeno Debast.

PREDICTED XI (3-4-3): Israel; Debast, Diomande, Reis; St Juste, Hjulmand, Braganca, Santos; Trincao, Gyokeres, Goncalves

UNAVAILABLE: 

QUESTIONABLE: Inacio (Injured), Quaresma (Injured)

MAN CITY TEAM NEWS: POTENTIAL DE BRUYNE RETURN A MASSIVE BOOST

Although he didn’t come off the bench against Bournemouth, to be named among the substitutes suggests that Kevin De Bruyne is ready to play following a groin injury, although it is unlikely to be from the start here in Portugal.

PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Gvardiol, Lewis; Gundogan, Silva; Savinho, Foden, Doku; Haaland 

UNAVAILABLE: Bobb (Injured), Dias (Injured), Grealish (Injured), Rodri (Injured)

QUESTIONABLE: Stones (Injured)

KEY STATS

  • Sporting Lisbon are unbeaten in their last five UEFA competition matches against English teams (W1 D4).
  • Sporting Lisbon have won only one of their last 11 UEFA competition matches against English teams (D5 L5).
  • Sporting Lisbon have lost only one of their last nine UEFA competition matches at home (W3 D5).
  • Sporting Lisbon have only failed to score in one of their last 21 UEFA competition matches.
  • Man City are unbeaten in a record 27 successive UEFA club competition matches (W18 D9), since losing away from home against Real Madrid in May 2022 (L 3-1 SF 2nd leg).
  • Man City’s last UEFA competition match away from home against a Portuguese team was a 5-0 victory against Sporting in the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League round of 16
  • Man City have won 12 and drawn three of their last 15 UEFA Champions League group/league phase matches.
  • Man City have scored three or more goals in nine of their last ten UEFA Champions League group/league phase matches.

SPORTING LISBON VS MAN CITY PREDICTION

Although all eyes will understandably be on Ruben Amorim, the Sporting Lisbon players will want to divert attention to the pitch, where motivation will be at an all-time high here amid what is expected to be a brilliant atmosphere in the Portuguese capital. Man City are used to such occasions and are incredibly good when it comes to bouncing back from defeat, so to get anything from this game, Sporting have their work cut out.

However, despite having recorded three clean sheets in Europe this season, Man City have proven far from stable defensively and without the likes of Dias, Rodri and potentially John Stones, the stage is set for the Sporting attack and star striker Viktor Gyokeres to get the better of the visiting backline. Therefore, the smart move would be to back both teams to score and over 2.5 goals across 90 minutes.

SPORTING LISBON VS MAN CITY TIP: OVER 2.5 GOALS AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE