Porto vs. Sporting Lisbon: Primeira Liga Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

At Estádio do Dragao on Friday, it will be third vs first in the Primeira Liga as misfiring Porto tries to reinvigorate their dwindling championship hopes against Sporting Lisbon.

Sporting, managed by Rui Borges, has been in respectable to excellent form since Ruben Amorim's departure, while the Dragons have had a terrible start to 2025, falling eight points behind.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

Porto finished 2024 in second place in the Liga after a 4-0 thrashing of second-bottom Boavista; they were tied with Sporting on 40 points; Benfica trailed them by two points as gameweek 16 came to a close.

By the 21st round of the 2025–26 season, the Dragons had dropped 10 points out of a possible 12, putting them eight points behind the league-leading Lisbon giants on 50 points and two points behind Benfica.

After a disastrous start to the new year, Vitor Bruno was fired. Martin Anselmi has been in charge since late January, leading the Blue and Whites to a Europa League victory (1-0) away to Maccabi Tel Aviv and a Liga tie (2-2) last week against Rio Ave.

After opening the year with losses to Nacional (2-0) and Gil Vicente (3-1) in the Portuguese top division, Porto has drawn their last three matches. The Dragons are looking to avoid matching their four-match winless streak from January to February 2001, when they lost 1-0 to Boavista, 2-1 to Benfica, 1-0 to Pacos de Ferreira, and 0-0 to Belenenses.

After that disappointing run, Portistas won 3-1 at home against Campomaiorense in February 2001, starting an unbeaten streak of 14 games (12 victories) that continued until the following season. They will be happy to duplicate that achievement against their Lisbon opponents.

Given the Dragons' stellar home record at the Dragao, where they have only allowed two points all season—a 1-1 draw with Santa Clara in their most recent home match—there is cause for hope.

Given Sporting's consistent progress under Borges after their struggles under Amorim, they will be favored to snap Porto's 13-match undefeated streak at the Dragao and become the first team to do so since Vitoria de Guimaraes in April 2024.

After losing two of their first four Liga matches before Christmas Day, Borges's side have won four of their last five Premier League matches, including a 1-0 triumph against Benfica on December 29. The Lions released Joao Pereira on Christmas Day.

The current league leaders want to extend their winning streak to four games against Porto. They have won their last three league matches with two clean sheets.

After Sporting's 2-0 victory over the Dragons in the August matchup, Borges hopes to make it three wins against Friday's opponents by claiming a 1-0 League Cup semi-final victory at the beginning of January.

Sportinguistas have had eight disappointments, including five losses during that barren run; it will be intriguing to see whether there is any joy for the Lions in Oporto after they haven't had a league triumph at the Dragao since an April 2016 3-1 win.

Porto vs. Sporting Lisbon

Since taking over for Bruno, Anselmi has used a back three, and Porto will likely continue with this formation for their third consecutive match. Anselmi was formerly the manager of Cruz Azul.

The following players are out with injuries: Ivan Marcano has a serious knee problem, Marko Grujic and Martim Fernandes are said to be out with muscular problems, and the hosts can't rely on Nico Gonzalez since he signed with Manchester City on deadline day.

The 13-goal attacker Samu Aghehowa will be looking to snap his scoring drought against the Lisbon visitors. Aghehowa has gone five games without a goal since scoring twice against Boavista in late December.

Sporting will evaluate center forward Viktor Gyokeres before Friday due to a thigh injury; without him, the team will need to find ways to score goals. Gyokeres has 22 goals for the season, including seven game-winning goals and seven to begin games.

Pedro Goncalves and Nuno Santos will not be able to play for the Lions in round 21 because of a serious knee injury. Hidemasa Morita will have his muscle condition evaluated before the match.

Borges has Sporting set up as a back four unit, and the Lions will likely stick with their current formation this weekend (4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2).

Our Predictions

Full-time draw @ 3.25 on Sky247.ng

Even though Sporting might have had a better chance of winning if the match had been played in Lisbon, the Blue and Whites should have been able to avoid losing to the top team on their home field for the ninth consecutive Liga match due to Porto's undefeated streak at the Dragao since last year and Gyokeres's probable absence.

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