Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund: Preview and Prediction

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund
UEFA Champions League – Group F
Date: Tuesday, 18th October, 2016,
Kick-Off at 19:45 UK,
Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon.

Sporting Clube de Portugal eventually put the disappointment in the 2-1 late defeat to Real Madrid with a 2-0 win against Legia on the matchday 2. The draw in the fixture between Dortmund and Real Madrid opens an interesting contest in Group F. As things stand, Sporting’s 3 points is just 1 short of 4 points shared by both Dortmund and Real Madrid. There is no doubt that this is a key fixture for both teams as the outcome count judge who goes beyond the group stage towards the end of this year.

Dortmund started their Champions League campaign by thrashing Legia Warsaw away from home by a 6-0 margin. Fighting through a number of key injuries they deny Madrid a scoring an equalizer late in the second half. Coming to Portugal as group leaders, Thomas Tuchel and his men will be eyeing nothing less than all three points.

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund: Head-to-Head Stats

This will be the first head-to-head meeting between Sporting CP and Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League fixture.

Sporting have a poor record when coming against Bundesliga sides in UEFA tournaments. They have won only twice in 24 meetings and suffered 16 defeats. Both wins have come at home, while they lost and drawn 5 each of the 12 games hosted at Lisbon.

Dortmund have a relatively good record against Portuguese clubs and won 5 of the 8 matches so far and lost in 3. They have managed only one win from 4 trips to Portugal which was during the round of 32 clash of Europa League against Porto last season. While they suffered defeats in previous three trips to Portugal.

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund: Prediction

Sporting’s home form this season has been excellent as they won in all five matches in all competitions this season. They also shown they are no pushovers in the matchday 1 clash against Real Madrid. If not for two late goals, they would have sitting at the top of the table.

While Dortmund’s away form is a worrisome as they suffered two defeats from their 5 matches in all competitions so far. The inconsistent form is mainly due to the higher number of injuries in the squad. Thomas Tuchel will be without 9 first team players here. And a number of players returning from international break and a tough home fixture at the weekend against Bayer Leverkusen are indicating that fitness will be an issue for them. At the same time, Sporting have a better fit squad as they played the cup match on the weekend resting key players.

These main factors narrow down the difference in quality between the two sides and we expect this will be an evenly contested match. However Dortmund remain slight favourite and could be backed to win by a narrow margin. Sporting’s poor record against Bundesliga sides is also a reason for the conclusion.