Sporting CP vs Marseille prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Group Stage betting tips on match 2022-10-11 19:00.
Rúben Amorim will be hoping his Sporting Lisbon side can keep 11 men on the field for their UEFA Champions League (UCL) reverse H2H against Marseille. The Portuguese side suffered a 4-1 defeat when the two teams met in France last week, but having had Antonio Adán sent off after just 23 minutes, Amorim claimed “eleven against eleven, we would have been in the game more” and he will now hope Sporting can substantiate his claim.
Sporting still sit top of UCL Group D after picking up wins in their two prior matches and returned to form at the weekend, edging past Santa Clara 2-1 to secure a sixth victory in eight outings (L2). Following that up with another victory here though remains an uncertainty due to Sporting’s patchy home record in this competition, losing five times in 11 fixtures since October 2016 (W4, D2), with the team who scored first going on to win on eight occasions.
Opponents Marseille know a win would lift them off bottom place in the group, but they will have to make history to do so, having never won in Portugal previously (D1, L7). After last week’s thumping victory in the reverse fixture you would expect Marseille to travel confident, but a shocking record on the road in the UCL where they’ve lost nine successive games and failed to score in five in a row raises doubts over their credentials here!
On top of that, manager Igor Tudor is demanding a response from his side after a 2-1 defeat to Ajaccio on Saturday, questioning his players’ desire by stating “it just felt like we didn’t really want to win”. That loss saw Marseille’s unbeaten start to the Ligue 1 season come to an abrupt halt (W7, D2), and now with just one clean sheet from their last seven outings in all competitions (W3, D1, L3), Marseille’s attack may have to be firing on all cylinders to counteract that leaky defence.
Players to watch: Pedro Gonçalves enjoys home comforts with seven of his last eight Sporting goals coming on home turf. Meanwhile, Marseille’s Nuno Tavares has won three of his four personal appearances against Sporting (L1), with his side on the day netting at least four times in each victory.
Hot stat: Both teams have scored in only three of Sporting’s last 14 home matches (W10, L4).