Sporting Lisbon will welcome Marseille to Estádio José Alvalade this Wednesday as both sides battle for three points in the fourth group stage game of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League season.
Venue: Estádio José Alvalade (Lisbon)
Key Statistics
Sporting Lisbon have won six of their last eight games (L2).
They have lost five of their eleven UEFA Champions League home fixtures since October 2016 (W4, D2).
The hosts kept two clean sheets in the UCL this season.
Both teams have scored in only three of Sporting’s last 14 home matches (W10, L4).
Marseille have never won in Portugal previously (D1, L7).
The visitors have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven outings in all competitions (W3, D1, L3).
They have three of their last four away games (L1).
Marseille’s Nuno Tavares has won three of his four personal appearances against Sporting (L1), with his side on the day netting at least four times in each victory.
Head to head
This will be the second competitive meeting between the two sides, with Marseille winning the first meeting which came in the reverse fixture.
Latest performances in all competitions
Sporting Lisbon: W-L-W-L-W
Marseille: L-W-W-D-L
Sporting Lisbon
After recording two straight wins in their opening UCL group games, Sporting Lisbon suffered their first defeat in the UCL this season when they were embarrassingly beaten 4-1 by Marseille in their last outing.
The game saw Antonio Adán sent off after just 23 minutes, with Sporting coach Ruben Amorim claiming after the game that “eleven against eleven, we would have been in the game more”.
The Portuguese coach will now hope Sporting can substantiate his claim when they welcome Marseille to Estádio José Alvalade on Wednesday. His side still sit top of Group D and returned to form at the weekend, edging past Santa Clara 2-1 to secure a sixth victory in eight outings (L2).
A win in this game could be enough to seal a place in the next round depending on results elsewhere. But Sporting’s patchy home record in this competition does not inspire confidence as the hosts have lost five times in 11 fixtures since October 2016 (W4, D2), with the team who scored first going on to win on eight occasions.
Possible Sporting Lisbon starting line-up
Franco Israel; Sebastian Coates, Matheus Reis, Jerry St. Juste; Ricardo Esgaio, Hidemasa Morita, Manuel Ugarte, Nuno Santos; P. Gonçalves Pote, Marcus Edwards, Paulinho.
Injured: Daniel Braganca, Jovane Cabral, Luis Neto
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Antonio Adan
Marseille
After recording their first win of the UCL campaign last week when they beat ten-men Sporting 4-1, Marseille fell to an embarrassing 2-1 loss to AC Ajaccio at the weekend.
The result brought an end to their unbeaten start to the season in Ligue 1 and took them down to third place in the table, three points behind Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain.
Marseille travel to Lisbon sitting bottom of this group. They know a win would lift them off the bottom place in the group, but they will have to make history to do so, having never won in Portugal previously (D1, L7).
After last week’s thumping victory in the reverse fixture, one would expect Marseille to travel in a confident mood. However, a shocking record on the road in the UCL where they’ve lost nine successive games and failed to score in five in a row raises doubts over their credentials here.
Manager Igor Tudor demanded a response from his side after their shocking 2-1 defeat to Ajaccio on Saturday, questioning his players’ desire by stating “it just felt like we didn’t really want to win”. He will hope that they can respond positively here and give themselves the chance of qualifying from this very open group.
Possible Marseille starting line-up
Pau Lopez; Chancel Mbemba, Eric Bailly, Leonardo Balerdi; Issa Kabore, Jordan Veretout, Valentin Rongier, Nuno Tavares; Amine Harit, Cengiz Under; Alexis Sanchez.
Injured: Sead Kolasinac, Matteo Guendouzi, Jonathan Clauss
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Sporting Lisbon 2-0 Marseille
