Sporting Lisbon vs. Borussia Dortmund: UCL Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

Sporting Lisbon will host Borussia Dortmund in Tuesday's first-leg playoff match at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Sporting Lisbon has not won a Champions League match since Reuben Amorim's departure.

While their hosts barely managed to keep their European adventure continuing, BVB came within a whisker of a top-eight finish, and in the league phase standings, four places and thirteen points separated the two teams.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

After losing the 40-year-old, who seemed to be the unifying force at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Sporting has also seen its influence wane, much like former Manchester United manager Joao Amorim.

Sporting lost all four of their first-phase games after gaining 10 points to get into the top eight discussions; no club among the 24 that made it to the knockout round is now riding a longer winless streak.

Sporting lost to Arsenal, Club Brugge, and RB Leipzig during that time. However, the Portuguese giants advanced to the playoffs on goal differential after a 1-1 draw with Bologna on matchday eight, in which 19-year-old Danish striker Conrad Harder scored the game-winning goal in the second half.

Sporting came so close to defeating Primeira Liga rivals Porto in Friday's thrilling match, but Porto scored an equalizer in the fourth minute of second-half injury time. New coach Rui Borges has managed to get the team back on course.

After that heartbreaking draw, in which they also went into halftime down a man, Sporting will be glad to return to their Alvalade headquarters. There, they have won their past seven matches across all competitions except a loss to Bologna.

Borussia Dortmund, who is also adapting to a new head coach, was coached by Mike Tullberg, who temporarily replaces Nuri Sahin. In their last Champions League match, a 3-1 victory against Shakhtar Donetsk, Serhou Guirassy scored twice.

Dortmund just edged out Real Madrid to finish in the top ten with a record of five victories and three losses in the league phase—however, last season's defeated finalists aimed for the top eight slots.

Dortmund lost 2-1 at home to Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday, their fifth loss in eight tournament games. The loss was under the leadership of ex-Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovac, who took over for Dortmund after their previous European campaign.

Due to their lack of defensive discipline, Dortmund has lost 13 games across all competitions since cruising past Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 in November. This has left them languishing in the bottom half of the German top-flight standings, which they blame on Saturday's defeat to Stuttgart.

On the other hand, Dortmund, which has been struggling offensively recently, has reason to be optimistic as they seek revenge for their 3-1 defeat to Sporting in their most recent meeting in November 2021. Barcelona had the greatest attacking record, with 28 goals scored in the UCL league phase.

Sporting Lisbon x Borussia Dortmund Team News

As bookings are not removed until the quarter-finals, the Dane Morten Hjulmand will be suspended for this week's encounter because he received his third yellow card of the competition during Sporting's draw with Bologna on the last matchday of the league round.

With Hjulmand out for Tuesday's first leg, Sporting will be without Pedro Goncalves (muscle), Joao Simoes (unspecified), and Nuno Santos (ACL). However, Matheus Reis and Ousmane Diomande are cleared to play in the Champions League after seeing red cards against Porto.

More Complex, a teenager, started up front on Friday night because Viktor Gyokeres hurt his thigh. However, the Swedish phenomenon, who is the home team's star, could return to the starting lineup on Tuesday to try to add to his incredible record of 34 goals in 15 matches this season.

A knee injury in training prevented Dortmund's deadline-day acquisition Carney Chukwuemeka from making his debut against Stuttgart, and his fitness for Tuesday's first leg is also uncertain.

The Chelsea loanee isn't the only injury worry for the visitors; Felix Nmecha will be out for a few more weeks with a knee injury, but other than that, they're good to go.

Guirassy is tied with Robert Lewandowski for the tournament lead with nine goals in the league phase. He has the potential to become the third Dortmund player to score ten goals in a Champions League season, joining Lewandowski and Erling Haaland; no player from BVB has ever scored eleven in a single campaign.

Our predictions

Full-time draw @ 3.65 on Sky247.ng

The opening leg on Tuesday seems certain to end in a tie since both teams are still adjusting to new managers and have yet to put together a winning streak.

We don't see either team getting a significant lead before the return match since Kovac can't restore Dortmund's shaky defense in a single night, and Gyokeres may be injured.

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