Sporting Lisboa and Benfica measure forces in Estadio José Alvalade, in a match for the 17th round of the First League. In this stadium, the history of direct confrontations is favorable to the visiting team, which records 2 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss in the last 7 games. However, the last time these two teams played a match at this stadium was 03‑04-2019, for Taça de Portugal, which ended Sporting Lisboa’s victory by (1‑0). The only goal of the game was scored by Bruno Fernandes (75 ‘). Despite being a match between 4th and 1st of the table, it is actually a confrontation between the 9th ranked in home games and the 1st as a visitor.
Sporting Lisboa :
The home team is currently in the 4th position, with 29 points won, after 9 wins, 2 draws and 5 losses. In the penultimate match, he lost at home against Porto by (1-2). In the last match, he won out against Vitória Setúbal by (1‑3). This is a team that usually conquers more positive results as a visitor than at home, since it conquered 17 points out and 12 in its stadium, with 16 goals scored and 9 suffered as a visitor, against 12 goals scored and 9 suffered at home. For the championship, Sporting Lisboa conquered 12 points in 21 possible, after 4 wins and 3 losses in the last 7 games played in its stadium. His attack has scored regularly, as he scored goals in 9 of the last 10 games for this competition. In 16 games in this competition, he never got the comeback in the 6 games in which he suffered the first goal.
In a campaign in which the team soon fell out of the fight for the title, the main objective of Sporting in the NOS League will be to finish third. Something that, for now, does not happen, since it has a disadvantage for the Famalicão. This was after a match in which Silas’s team won at the Estadio do Bonfim, against Vitória de Setúbal, by 3×1, with two goals from the inevitable Bruno Fernandes and an autogol. It was a controversial game, in which Sporting dominated the first half and finally slept in the second, putting himself in a susceptible position, before “killing” the game in his favor and near the end. In this close of the first half of the league, the team will try to defeat the Lisbon rival, in a derby in which the priority will be the defense of Sporting’s honor.
Benfica:
After 15 wins and 1 loss, the visiting team is currently in 1st position, with 45 points won. In their last game, they won the Homeless Bird by (2‑1), after in the previous game they had won out, in a match against Vitória Guimarães, by (0‑1). This is a team little affected by the home factor, since it conquered similar results at home and abroad. The team arrives at this match after a home victory with Rio Ave by (3-2).
In this competition, he won the last 7 away matches. In their home league games the most frequent final result at the break was 0-1 (3 in 7 games). His defense has been very solid, since he only suffered goals in 3 of the last 10 matches, and his attack has scored regularly, since he scored at least one goal in each of the last 10 matches for this competition. This is a team that usually does not feel difficult to open the scoring: he scored the first goal in 12 of the last 16 matches for the Primeira Liga, of these 12 he came to the break in advantage in 9 and always managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90s’. In 16 games in this competition, he suffered the first goal 4 times, but he got the comeback in 3. In the last 10 home games for all competitions there is 1 period that stands out: he suffered 5 of his 11 goals between minutes (76 ‘ -90 ‘).
The Benfica champion arrives at this last day of the first half of the championship in the leadership, with a four-point advantage over the rival FC Porto, who plays in this round two hours before this match in Alvalade. On the last day of the League, he suffered but won at the reception to the last classified Desportivo das Aves, 2-1, in a comeback with goals from Pizzi (penalty) and André Almedia, in the final part of the match. Benfica lost several scoring opportunities throughout the game and was very close to losing points. A scenario that, to a certain extent, was repeated last Tuesday, upon receiving Rio Ave, for the quarterfinals of the Portuguese Cup. In a game in which Bruno Lage’s team was also at a disadvantage on the scoreboard, but he achieved the 3-2 comeback, this time with two goals from the Swiss Haris Seferovic, who left the bench to allow his team to reach the semifinal.
