In the UEFA Cup final of 2005 Sporting and CSKA Moskva faced each other and it was the Russian team that lifted the champions trophy with a 3-1 win. Ten years later, there is no trophy on the line, but a ticket to Europe's premier club competition, the UEFA Champions League.
A rematch that Sporting looks forward to. They just won the Portuguese cup under the wing of Marco Silva, but now, they start a new season with Jorge Jesus, who took over after leading Benfica to their second successive Primeira Liga title. Even on the day that Sporting won the cup, no one would have predicted that Silva wouldn't continue with the team when he still had three years left in his contract.
Sporting want to be back to the Champions League even with a new coach. Jesus seems like an ideal candidate to do so. The 61-year old coach clearly matured in his position during his time with a big club like Benfica. His record shows that he can teach his teams to manage high-pressure situations, something Sporting lacked in games last season.
The manager almost won it all with Benfica. In a five-year stint, he collected twelve titles in the league, cup and league cups combined. He is mostly known for developing players like Angel di Maria, Jan Oblak and Nemanja Matic. Jesus is expected to develop every player in Sporting's roster to their full potential.
The fact that Sporting has never been able to beat a Russian team is something that may concern fans as they look to qualify for the upcoming UCL season against one of the best in their league. Out of five games that the Portuguese side has played against Russian teams, they have yet to win a game, while they have already lost four.
When Jorge Jesus was the manager of Benfica, he could not beat Russian teams on the road, but he always got the job done when the match was played in their ground. Two of the most dangerous players on the Russian side that could endanger Sporting's chances are Brazilians Mario Fernandez and Jefferson.
CSKA Moskva has not lost a Champions League qualifying match (W5, D4). On the other hand, the last and only time that Sporting appeared at this stage, Fiorentina knocked them out. That was in the 2009-2010 season. Today, a new chapter will be written, and the stats call for a very tight series among these two teams.
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