Tuesday night begins the knock-out phase of the new Champions League format. Clubs in the play-offs will need to win on aggregate after a home and an away fixture. In this article, we’ll be focusing on Sporting v Borussia Dortmund. Both teams have fantastic attacking options and this has been proven with the amount of goals scored by both sides. In what will be a tense knock-out and a card happy ref, I’m expecting at least a card for each team. I’m tipping Both Teams to Score and Both Teams to Receive 1+ Card each at 1.88.
Sporting’s Season So Far
Sporting have had a crazy season so far full of ups and downs. They started with Viktor Gyokores on fire, scoring goals aplenty including a hat-trick against Man City when they ran out 4-1 winners. Their success attracted Man Utd to scoop up their manager, Ruben Amorim, since then Sporting have not been able to maintain the same results which has put them 23rd in the Champions League table, just two positions from elimination.
Sporting have failed to win their last four UCL matches after winning three of their first four games in the competition which puts them in poor form going into a tricky game against Dortmund. Their shining light this season has been Gyokeres who will fancy himself to score against a side that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in their last 13 matches if he is deemed fit enough to make an appearance. The Swede was rested but came off the bench on the weekend as Sporting limit his minutes as they will want him to feature significantly tonight.
End to End Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund finished 10th place in the Champions League table just one point away from the automatic spots. They won five games and lost three in their European campaign however they certainly had some highlights. They beat Celtic 7-1 at home then in their next game lost 5-2 to Real Madrid after being two goals up at the Bernabeu. Currently, they are the competition’s second highest scorers and average 4.25 goals a game. Despite a tense match, we should see Dortmund score but they look likely to concede one or two as well. A crazy statistic reads the German side seeing BTTS in 12 of their last 13 in all competitions, signs point towards an entertaining game in Portugal.
The Ref
The referee in charge is Espen Eskas, who has been dishing out the cards in the Champions League games he has been in charge of. His card numbers per game are: 4,6,2,3,4. In a game of this magnitude, we should expect to see a card for each team. Our tip for this one is BTTS and Both Teams to Receive a Card.
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