On Thursday Apr 19, Sporting Clube de Portugal meet Athletic Club Bilbao at 8.05 pm at Estádio de Alvalade XXI in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals first leg.
Last season, there were four Iberian teams in the semi-finals, and the final was totally Portuguese. This season, Spanish sides will certainly try to achieve the same goal. Sporting’s mission is to prevent this historic achievement from happening.
To fulfill the task, Sporting has to maintain their winning strike. In fact, since Ricardo Sá Pinto took charge of the team in mid-February, Sporting have recorded eight victories in a row. They have managed to score 13 goals and concede only one, a penalty in the last home match against FC Metalist Kharkhiv.
Sporting have recently had a 1-0 home win against archrivals SL Benfica, almost throwing Benfica out of this season’s Portuguese Liga Zon/Sagres challenge. Due to these last good results, Sporting have become a very moralized team.
Ricardo Sá Pinto told the press that “We will play with great ambition because we want to reach the final. (…) Our weapon has been our warrior spirit. The team is united. (…) Bilbao is a frenetic team and they seem tireless.”
Athletic Bilbao's Argentine coach, Marcelo Bielsa, also know as “El loco” told the press in the build-up to this crunch game:
“It will be a different challenge but just like Manchester United and Schalke 04, Sporting are an industrious team.”
Seventh-placed in Spanish Liga BBVA, Athletic Bilbao have not given up the fight to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League although their chances look slim. If Sporting are a very strong team at home, Athletic Bilbao can boast about a very strong away record as they proved away to Manchester United (3-2) and FC Schalke 04 (4-2) in Gelsenkirchen.
These two sides have only met one time in UEFA competitions. That happened 27 years ago in the UEFA Cup. Javier Clemente was Bilbao's coach by then. Sporting's manager was Manuel José. The first leg was played in Bilbao. The hosts secured a 2-1 win while in Lisbon Sporting won 3-0, going through into the next phase.
Ahead of Thursday night's clash, Daniel Carriço is back from one match suspension. Javi Martinez is the only player unavailable for Marcelo Bielsa. Borja Ekiza will most likely feature as a substitute. Carlos Gurpegui is back in the team after a long term injury but Iker Muniain will have a late minute test to insure he’s able to play.
To fulfill the task, Sporting has to maintain their winning strike. In fact, since Ricardo Sá Pinto took charge of the team in mid-February, Sporting have recorded eight victories in a row. They have managed to score 13 goals and concede only one, a penalty in the last home match against FC Metalist Kharkhiv.
Sporting have recently had a 1-0 home win against archrivals SL Benfica, almost throwing Benfica out of this season’s Portuguese Liga Zon/Sagres challenge. Due to these last good results, Sporting have become a very moralized team.
Ricardo Sá Pinto told the press that “We will play with great ambition because we want to reach the final. (…) Our weapon has been our warrior spirit. The team is united. (…) Bilbao is a frenetic team and they seem tireless.”
Athletic Bilbao's Argentine coach, Marcelo Bielsa, also know as “El loco” told the press in the build-up to this crunch game:
“It will be a different challenge but just like Manchester United and Schalke 04, Sporting are an industrious team.”
Seventh-placed in Spanish Liga BBVA, Athletic Bilbao have not given up the fight to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League although their chances look slim. If Sporting are a very strong team at home, Athletic Bilbao can boast about a very strong away record as they proved away to Manchester United (3-2) and FC Schalke 04 (4-2) in Gelsenkirchen.
These two sides have only met one time in UEFA competitions. That happened 27 years ago in the UEFA Cup. Javier Clemente was Bilbao's coach by then. Sporting's manager was Manuel José. The first leg was played in Bilbao. The hosts secured a 2-1 win while in Lisbon Sporting won 3-0, going through into the next phase.
Ahead of Thursday night's clash, Daniel Carriço is back from one match suspension. Javi Martinez is the only player unavailable for Marcelo Bielsa. Borja Ekiza will most likely feature as a substitute. Carlos Gurpegui is back in the team after a long term injury but Iker Muniain will have a late minute test to insure he’s able to play.
