Sporting CP vs Sturm Graz prediction: EUROPE: Europa League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2023-12-13 20:00.
Sporting Lisbon know that they are already through to the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, but the knockout play-off round awaits them as the Portuguese giants can’t leapfrog Atalanta to finish top of Group D. That leaves them with the potentially daunting prospect of coming up against a side that dropped out of the UEFA Champions League in their attempt to reach the last 16.
That essentially renders this game a dead runner for Sporting, but they will still be confident of beating Sturm Graz to end their group campaign on a high, having emerged victorious in six of their seven clashes with Austrian opposition (L1). Even with that strong record behind them, they won’t be taking this fixture lightly, given that the most recent of those games was a 4-1 humbling by LASK back in 2020.
Sturm are third in the group and know that they cannot finish higher than that, but are still fighting to move into the UEFA Europa Conference League. Because they and fourth-placed Raków Częstochowa hold an identical H2H record, Christian Ilzer’s men must better the Poles’ result against Atalanta in order to ensure without doubt that they reach the knockout phase of Europe’s third-tier competition, although if both games end level, Sturm will advance.
Four defeats from their last ten matches in all competitions (W4, D2) suggests their knockout hopes remain on a knife-edge, but they have at least gone unbeaten in all five games during that run after going 1-0 up (W4, D1). They make the trip to Lisbon as underdogs, and a victory here would certainly constitute a hefty upset, especially as they have won just twice on their last 15 European away outings (D3, L10).
Players to watch: Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres has netted 15 goals in 18 matches at club level since his summer move, including the equaliser in the 2-1 comeback win at Sturm in September. Tomi Horvat is likely to be the one sitting behind the two forwards for Sturm, and he has netted four times in his last five appearances, three of which have come after half-time.
Hot stat: Only one of Sturm’s last six UEL away games saw both teams score on the day.