Sporting vs Besiktas Match Preview

Sporting Lisbon welcomes Besiktas for the 4th round of the UEFA Champions League group stage.

After the heavy 1-5 home loss to Ajax in the opening game, Sporting aspires to have better luck against Besiktas in this one and to celebrate their first home victory.

After two consecutive defeats at the beginning of the group stage essentially Sporting was far from the first two places of the group but the victory in Turkey in the previous match if combined with one more at home against the Turkish team will give them some hope while at the same time they will secure 3rd place leading to the Europa League.

Besiktas have suffered an equal number of defeats in 3 games and needs a boost to be able to continue even in the Europa League. Both defeats from the favorites of this group may have been expected to some extent, but the tombstone in the dreams of the Turkish side was the 1-4 home defeat to Sporting.

They travel to Lisbon with the sole goal of a victory that will give them hope to claim 3rd place, although it will be very difficult to overturn the 1-4 of the first leg in order to have an advantage in the case of having the same points as their opponents at the end of the group stage.

My choice in this match is over 2.5 goals as both teams want the victory desperately. Sporting in front of their fans wants to celebrate an important victory while Besiktas have no reason for a defensive game as even a draw leads them to elimination. Just two weeks ago we saw an open game with five goals in Turkey and I expect something similar in this informal rematch.