This Thursday, Sporting begins its participation in the Europa Football League, in Graz, Austria, against Sturm, in Group D, in which it will try to remain in first place, the only one that gives direct access to the round of 16.
At the Stadion Graz Liebenau, starting at 9:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. in Lisbon), the ‘lions’ will face a rival who has never surpassed the ‘poules’ phase of this competition, and who, together with the Poles from Raków Czestochowa, are the ones who have the fewest arguments to aspire to move forward.
Atalanta, from Italy, is the great rival of the ‘green and white’ in the group, in which the second place guarantees its presence in the play-off to access the ’round of 16′.
Against Austrian clubs, Sporting has seven wins, six losses and two draws, with the balance on Austrian soil being unfavorable (two draws and five losses), and, in Graz, the ‘lions’, second in the I League, are tied with points with the leader Boavista, they will meet a team that is also going through a good phase, since they are second in the championship.
The team led by Christian Ilzer has no well-known names and finished the last Austrian Bundesliga in second place, just behind the ten-time champion Salzburg, Benfica’s rival in the Champions League, and, this season, was eliminated from the ‘Champions’ by the PSV. Eindhoven, Netherlands.
In the other groups, Roma, led by José Mourinho, faces Moldovan Sheriff Tiraspol in their debut, while Liverpool, six-time European champions, travel to Austria to play LASK Linz.
The Dutch Ajax and the French Marseille, former European champions, face each other in group B, which features the debutant Brighton, from England, rival of the Greek champion AEK Athens.
Source: TSF
