Sporting Lisbon aim to extend their 100% home record in this season’s Champions League as they welcome Club Brugge to Estadio Jose Alvalade on Wednesday.
This fixture marks a second meeting between the sides in successive campaigns, with a 2-1 victory for the Belgian outfit in Brugge being their only previous encounter.
Match preview
Having lost at Napoli in their first away outing of the Champions League campaign, avoiding defeat on their return to Italian soil would count as an encouraging outcome for Sporting, who played out a 1-1 draw against Juventus in Turin on matchday four.
Faced with 10 shots on the night, Rui Silva was excellent in goal, with only Dusan Vlahovic’s close-range strike finding its way past the 31-year-old shotstopper, meaning Maximiliano Araujo’s early opener earned the Lions only a point.
Now 13th in the league phase standings with seven points from their opening four games, Wednesday’s encounter offers an opportunity for Rui Borges’s men to improve their position in the table, particularly given their formidable home record in the campaign.
Sporting have won both matches at the Alvalade in this season’s Champions League following an opening-day 4-1 thrashing of debutants Kairat Almaty before securing a comeback 2-1 triumph against Marseille on matchday three.
The Lions are on the verge of victories in each of their first three home games of a UCL main-stage campaign for the first time ever and can be confident of achieving this feat, having beaten Belgian sides in each of the last three meetings in front of the Lisbon fans.
Winning six of their last seven games at the Alvalade (D1) further suggests the Lions are capable of making history, the most recent of that impressive run being a 3-0 thrashing of lower-league minnows Marinhense in the Portuguese Cup on Saturday, which also marked a ninth game without defeat across all competitions (W7, D2).
© Imago
Meanwhile, Brugge ended a two-game winless run with a 1-0 victory over Charleroi at the weekend, leaving Blauw-Zwart four points behind leaders Union SG in the Belgian top-flight standings.
While defeat at Anderlecht during that brief drought was a setback, holding Barcelona to a 3-3 draw in Belgium was an impressive result, even if Nicky Hayen’s men failed to convert leads on three occasions from Nicolo Tresoldi and a Carlos Forbs brace.
Christos Tzolis’s 77th-minute own goal proved costly for Brugge, who have now failed to win any of their last three Champions League matches, with an opening-day 4-1 home victory over Monaco being their only success this campaign.
Sitting 22nd in the league phase standings on four points leaves the Blue-Black at risk of slipping out of the playoff spots, making a positive result on Wednesday crucial.
However, away days in the Champions League offer little room for optimism, given Brugge have lost both trips this campaign, including setbacks against Atalanta (2-1) and Bayern Munich (4-0).
Records on the road against Portuguese sides do not make the task ahead appear any easier, as the Belgian club have suffered defeats in five of their seven trips.
The most superstitious of Blauw-Zwart supporters, however, may take heart from a curious pattern of alternating wins and losses in the team’s last seven away games across all competitions (W3, L4), with the setback at Anderlecht being the most recent.
Sporting Lisbon Champions League form:
Sporting Lisbon form (all competitions):
Club Brugge Champions League form:
Club Brugge form (all competitions):
Team News
© Imago / Ball Raw Images
Sporting remain without injured winger Pedro Goncalves, meaning Geny Catamo is likely to feature on the left flank while teenage sensation Geovany Quenda operates on the right.
Aged 18 years and 210 days, Quenda could become the youngest Portuguese player to reach 15 Champions League appearances, surpassing Ruben Neves’s record of 19 years and 269 days.
Fotis Ioannidis and Luis Suarez have alternated in the number nine role in the previous four outings, but the latter is expected to start here as the former is sidelined with injury.
Other absentees include centre-back Zeno Debast and midfielder Daniel Braganca, both of whom remain sidelined as they progress through rehabilitation.
Brugge travel to Lisbon also missing a sizeable number of players, with Ludovit Reis, Bjorn Meijer, Lynnt Audoor, Christos Tzolis and Kyriani Sabbe all ruled out with injuries.
Simon Mignolet is still recovering from an adductor tear, so Nordin Jackers is expected to retain his position between the sticks.
Hans Vanaken has maintained his hot form from the international break, netting the decider last time out to extend his goalscoring streak to three appearances for club and country, so he will enter this one full of beans.
Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Silva; Araujo, Inacio, Diomande, Vagiannidis; Simoes, Hjulmand; Catamo, Trincao, Quenda; Suarez
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Jackers; Seys, Mechele, Ordonez, Siquet; Onyedika, Stankovic; Diakhon, Vanaken, Forbs; Tresoldi
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We say: Sporting Lisbon 2-1 Club Brugge
This encounter promises to produce goals, with Sporting having scored in their last 20 European group stage/league phase games, while Brugge have found the net in six of their last seven Champions League outings, including qualifiers.
That said, the Lions are expected to take full spoils here, given their dominant home record, with the visitors’ poor away form in this season’s league phase further reinforcing that expectation.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
