Benfica vs Sporting CP
Portuguese Primeira Liga
Date: Sunday, 25th October, 2015
Time: 17:00 BST
Venue: Estádio da Luz, Lisbon
Live stream: fuboTV
The Lisbon derby takes place on Sunday evening as Benfica look to close the gap on local rivals Sporting Club of Portugal at the top of the Portuguese league.
It will be Jorge Jesus’ first trip back to the Stadium of Light since he jumped ship in the summer after guiding Benfica to their record 34th league title last season.
Sporting start the weekend joint-top of the league with FC Porto on 17 points after seven games. Benfica are down in fifth position on 12 points but do have a game in hand.
Benfica were beaten 2-1 at Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night, undoing most of their hard work in winning at Atlético Madrid. Sporting were comfortable 5-1 winners at home to Albanian opponents Skënderbeu Korçë on Thursday night. Jesus’ men will have had 24 hours less recovery and preparation time but at least they played at home.
Former Valencia striker Jonas is the league’s top scorer. The Brazilian international has netted seven goals in his six league appearances so far this season, continuing on from the excellent form of his debut season where he scored 20 in 27 in 2014-15.
Sporting’s own Islam Slimani is a lethal threat up front himself and has five goals this season, with only Jonas ahead of him in the scoring charts.
You can watch Benfica vs Sporting live online through Fubo.tv – click here to sign up.
Benfica vs Sporting CP Team News
Benfica team news
Youngsters Nuno Santos and Nélson Semedo are the only injuries that the hosts are currently dealing with, meaning the manager virtually has his whole first team available to him for the derby.
Sporting CP team news
Jorge Jesus a number of his key players in the Europa League on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s important match.
Benfica vs Sporting CP possible starting line-ups
Benfica: Júlio César; Sílvio, Jardel, Luisão, Eliseu; Gonçalo Guedes, Andreas Samaris, Nico Gaitán; Kostas Mitroglou, Jonas
Sporting CP: Rui Patrício; Jefferson, Naldo, Paulo Oliveira, Tobias Figueiredo; William Carvalho, Adrien Silva, Bryan Ruiz, João Mário; Islam Slimani, Teófilo Gutiérrez
Benfica vs Sporting CP: Key Stats
1 – Both Lisbon derbies in the league last season ended in 1-1 draws.
2.67 – Benfica are averaging the most goals per game in the league.
7 – Benfica’s Jonas starts the weekend as the Portuguese league’s top goalscorer with seven goals in his six league appearances.
Prediction: Benfica 2-1 Sporting CP
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