On Friday March 29, Sporting Clube de Portugal will meet FC Metalist Kharkhiv from Ukraine at 8:05pm local time (3:05pm EST) in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals.
The venue is the Estádio de Alvalade XXI. We’re entering the final stages of this important competition. Teams are very similar and could give us balanced and tough matches.
After the quarter-finals draw, Sporting Clube de Portugal seem to have reasons to be optimistic about. Sporting are apparently stronger with a higher ranking position but nothing can be taken for granted. Manchester City are bigger on paper than Sporting Lisbon but results in the Last 16 told otherwise.
Metalist comes to Lisbon to once again try to beat the odds as they did against Olympiacos in the previous round.
Sporting and Metalist have never met in a UEFA competition in the past. However, Sporting have the experience of clashing against Ukrainian sides thanks to meetings with FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dynamo Kyiv.
Remarkably, the Lisbon-based contenders have always come out victorious. Curiously, they have never conceded a single goal at home against Ukrainian sides.
Another interesting fact is that Anderson Polga, Brazilian world champion in 2002 in Korea-Japan and playing for Sporting ever since, has only scored two goals in 10 years. These two goals were scored against FC Dynamo Kyiv in 2007/08 season.
On the other hand, Metalist have good memories of Lisbon as they won 1-0 against Sporting’s rivals, Benfica. That was in the group stages of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup.
Sporting have been unstoppable at home since Ricardo Sá Pinto is in charge. They have achieved five wins in a row, four in the Portuguese Liga Zon/Sagres and one against Manchester City in UEFA Europa League, without conceding any goal. Will they maintain the momentum?
Metalist are the tournament's top scorers with 25 goals. Argentinian defender Marco Torsiglieri played for Sporting last season. Last summer, he moved on loan to Metalist but signed a permanent contract in December 2011.
Sporting coach Ricardo Sá Pinto believes the odds are even. He told the press that “there are no favourites in this tie. It's 50-50”. This is something that Sá Pinto and Metalist coach Myron Markevich seem to agree on. What will the battle on the field produce?
After the quarter-finals draw, Sporting Clube de Portugal seem to have reasons to be optimistic about. Sporting are apparently stronger with a higher ranking position but nothing can be taken for granted. Manchester City are bigger on paper than Sporting Lisbon but results in the Last 16 told otherwise.
Metalist comes to Lisbon to once again try to beat the odds as they did against Olympiacos in the previous round.
Sporting and Metalist have never met in a UEFA competition in the past. However, Sporting have the experience of clashing against Ukrainian sides thanks to meetings with FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dynamo Kyiv.
Remarkably, the Lisbon-based contenders have always come out victorious. Curiously, they have never conceded a single goal at home against Ukrainian sides.
Another interesting fact is that Anderson Polga, Brazilian world champion in 2002 in Korea-Japan and playing for Sporting ever since, has only scored two goals in 10 years. These two goals were scored against FC Dynamo Kyiv in 2007/08 season.
On the other hand, Metalist have good memories of Lisbon as they won 1-0 against Sporting’s rivals, Benfica. That was in the group stages of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup.
Sporting have been unstoppable at home since Ricardo Sá Pinto is in charge. They have achieved five wins in a row, four in the Portuguese Liga Zon/Sagres and one against Manchester City in UEFA Europa League, without conceding any goal. Will they maintain the momentum?
Metalist are the tournament's top scorers with 25 goals. Argentinian defender Marco Torsiglieri played for Sporting last season. Last summer, he moved on loan to Metalist but signed a permanent contract in December 2011.
Sporting coach Ricardo Sá Pinto believes the odds are even. He told the press that “there are no favourites in this tie. It's 50-50”. This is something that Sá Pinto and Metalist coach Myron Markevich seem to agree on. What will the battle on the field produce?
