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Sporting vs Benfica Prediction & Betting tips
There is a state of emergency in the country of the reigning European champion on Friday evening when the 308th Derby de Lisboa is on the program: Sporting Lisbon welcomes city rivals Benfica.
Both teams won a total of 133 trophies. 83 titles, including 37 national championships, are available for the eagles alone, who also travel to the Estádio José Alvalade XXI as reigning leaders.
Sporting Lisbon versus Benfica Lisbon is, according to bookmakers’ odds in their own stadium, only the outsider in the Lisbon city derby. Of course, this can be explained in the current table of the Primeira Liga.
There, the Encarnados finally took first place with 15 wins from 16 games with a four point lead over their main pursuer Porto. The Leões, on the other hand, are currently only fourth in the table, 16 points behind their city rivals, which at Sporting Lisbon against Benfica Lisbon also shifts the forecast towards the guests.
Above all, the away record of the Águias is crucial. The reigning national champion won all seven games in the distance, while the Verde e brancos only took ninth place in the home table after three defeats from seven games.
Accordingly, there is no alternative in our eyes to play tip 2 at Sporting Lisbon against Benfica Lisbon and thus to follow the favorite tip at attractive odds.
Sporting Lisbon:
So far it has been a rather meager season for the Verde e brancos, who actually had a lot planned. However, after the embarrassment just mentioned in the Supertaça, the start of the season was extremely bumpy, the early championship since 2002 had to be abandoned once more.
Marcel Keizer also had to pack his bags at the beginning of September before successor Leonel Pontes was also kicked out after just three weeks and defeats against the surprise team FC Famalicão and in the Taça da Liga against Rio Ave.
Since September 27, 2019, Silas, the third coach in the current season, has been leading the fortunes of the Leões. However, the 43-year-old has not yet been able to bring about a sustainable turnaround. After all, Sporting is still only fourth and is twelve points behind second place. A return to the Champions League should therefore already be ruled out.
The fact that the competitiveness of the Verde e brancos, who have recently been able to keep up with Porto and Benfica less frequently and mostly had to make do with third place, has suffered again in the 2019/20 season can also be explained by the transfer activities.
Numerous top performers such as Rapinha, Thierry Correia, Bas Dost or Domingos Duarte were sold and not really adequately replaced. With captain Bruno Fernandes, the Leões also have a superstar in their ranks who could possibly switch to Manchester United in this winter transfer window.
In the Derby de Lisboa, the 25-year-old, who is also the top scorer of the Verde e brancos, will still be on the pitch. A bright spot for coach Silas, who goes to the city derby with great personnel worries.
Attacking only right winger Jovane Cabral is missing. In central defense, however, the reserve is required. Luis Neto is injured, while Sebastián Coates caught his fifth yellow card in the recent 3-1 win in Setúbal and has to pause suspended. To make matters worse, keeper Renan Ribeiro is injured.
Factors that favor the prediction of the Encarnados away win at Sporting Lisbon against Benfica Lisbon, against whom the Leões in the Primeira Liga have been waiting for another win in seven home games (three draws, four defeats).
Judging by the fact that the home record in the Estádio José Alvalade XXI is already poor in three defeats from the previous seven league home games, this Derby de Lisboa is also not a very bad star for Verde e brancos.
Benfica Lisbon:
While city rivals Sporting are struggling with problems, it could hardly be better for Benfica Lisbon at national level.
Early in the season, the Encarnados had to put up with a 0-2 home defeat against FC Porto that was actually considered groundbreaking. After 16 match days, however, it was the only point loss in the Primeira Liga for the reigning national champions, who won all other 15 games without further ado.
Mind you with a goal difference of 40: 4, if the postage game is excluded. This also means that the Águias were able to win all seven league games in foreign places and are therefore even ahead of Porto in the away table, even though the kites were twice twice as often in the distance.
It is exactly this away strength that makes the difference overall. For example, Benfica Lisbon has a four-point lead over FC Porto and plans to take it over the finish line in order to be able to clinch the 38th Portuguese Championship in the summer.
An away win at the city rival is of course absolutely mandatory. Not least because of the crashing 5-0 success in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, the odds of all bookmakers at Sporting Lisbon against Benfica Lisbon clearly speak for it.
The Encarnados had to face Rio Ave at home in the quarter-finals in Taça de Portugal during the week and did not spill themselves in the narrow 3-2 victory after two defeats. However, coach Bruno Lage spared rows of regulars on the day of his one-year anniversary as a Benfica coach.
However, it still has to be shown what effects the winter transfers will have on the further success of the Águias. Comparatively, a lot happened in the Champions League group opponent of RB Leipzig, where Benfica said goodbye to the Europa League.
With Raúl de Tomás, a storm talent switched to Espanyol Barcelona, while superstar Gedson Fernandes followed the call from José Mourinho and hired at Tottenham – initially on loan before the purchase is due to be completed in the summer.
Money that those responsible promptly reinvested by signing Julian Weigl from Borussia Dortmund. Rumor has it that the Encarnados are also on Robin Koch from SC Freiburg.
Now it is important to show that the offensive has not lost any punch due to the two departures. With the exception of captain Jardel and midfield engine Gabriel, coach Bruno Lage can fall back on his entire team at the Estádio José Alvalade XXI.
Sporting vs Benfica head to head matches
04.08.19 SC Benfica Sporting 5 : 0
03.04.19 TP Sporting Benfica 1 : 0
06.02.19 TP Benfica Sporting 2 : 1
03.02.19 PL Sporting Benfica 2 : 4
25.08.18 PL Benfica Sporting 1 : 1