Sporting CP vs Legia Warsaw
UEFA Champions League – Group F
Date: Tuesday, 27th September, 2016,
Kick-Off: 19:45 UK,
Venue: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund.
Reason For Betting Tips
Sporting CP started their Champions League campaign with the toughest match you could imagine. They faced a trip to the Bernebeu to face the reigning European champions Real Madrid. Fortunately for the visitors, and much to their credit, they didn’t by any means disgrace themselves They were actually a goal up for the majority of the second half after scoring the opener, but very late goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata saw them leave Spain empty handed. Either way it is a very promising start to their tournament.
This was followed by a rare Portuguese Primeira Liga defeat at Rio Ave last weekend, but on Friday they bounced back with an emphatic 4-2 victory over Estoril, to propel them to the top of the table.
Prior to Sporting CP’s defeat to Real Madrid, they had won all five of their competitive matches this season, including a victory over rivals Porto in the league. The Sporting CP fans should be pleased with their efforts in Madrid as well, and so far their only disappointment of the season came against Rio Ave. They will need to keep up this good form to stand any chance of qualifying from the group as well, with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund heavy favourites to go through to the knockout stages.
Borussia Dortmund were the team that Legia Warsaw faced in their group opener, and the hosting Polish side weren’t exactly up to scratch. A flurry of early goals put Dortmund 3-0 up inside 20 minutes, and although the rest of the first half settled down a bit, the visitors came out newly invigorated after half time to win the match 6-0.
This was followed by a 3-2 defeat at home to Zagiebie Lubin in the Polish Ekstraklasa and a goalless draw at Wisla Krakow on Friday to make for a very disappointing spell for Legia Warsaw. They have only won two of their 12 competitive games this season, losing six times and sitting 11th in the league.
I can’t see this ending too well for Legia Warsaw. Sporting CP scored four at the weekend and are facing a side in dire straits at the moment. The hosts have won by two or more goals in three of their five matches so far this season, and the visitors looked hopeless against Borussia Dortmund. Odds of 2.075 for a Sporting CP -2.0 Asian Handicap Win look very good value to me, so I’m backing that along with a 4-0 correct score prediction at 10/1.
Head To Head
Sporting CP have won one and drawn one of their three meetings with Legia Warsaw, with those games being played in the 2011/12 Europa League campaign.
Stats
Sporting CP have won 71% of their competitive games this season, whilst Legia Warsaw have lost 50% of their's and won just 16%.
Striker Lukas Spalvis is the only reported injury concern as he recovers from a knee operation. The 22 year old won't be back until January.
Legia Warsaw are hoping to have a fully fit squad on Tuesday.
