Four teams separated by two points and any of them could end the crazy 14th round of the I League in the lead. This is more than enough attraction for two days that promise to be intense in Portugal. It is a real summit of leaders in which the two first placed teams (Sporting and FC Porto) will play in Alvalade at the end of the round, on Monday, after champion Benfica, third in the rankings, visits Sp. Braga, which is in fourth place. Isolated and strengthened leadership is just as possible as staying the same when it comes to classification.
Due to the defeat in Guimarães (3-2), Sporting was equal in first place against FC Porto before the classic (they defeated Casa Pia 3-1). Viktor Gyökeres is currently one of the biggest figures in the championship and Sporting’s top scorer (nine goals in twelve games). After being blank against D. Afonso Henriques, the Swedish striker played and scored against Sturm Graz in the Europa League, but there is some expectation whether Sérgio Conceição will take advantage of Guimarães coach Álvaro Pacheco’s strategy to “capture” the Swedes to make”. Gyökeres is the one who contributed the most to the second best attack in the I League (28 goals, against 21 for the Dragons), who will meet the best defense (9 goals against from the Porto players, against 15 for the Lions).
Pepe left the Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk (5-3) with physical problems and will have doubts until the day of the classic. The FC Porto captain, who will turn 41 in February, is increasingly used strategically and that is why his presence in Alvalade is really necessary, even though he was still doing fitness training yesterday.
The return to the Sporting eleven of captain Coates, who was suspended against V. Guimarães, is guaranteed and may even be accompanied by Geny Catamo, who only underwent treatment at the beginning of the FC Porto operation, but unlike defenders St. Juste and Iván Fresneda can recover for this match.
It is certain that the winner of the Alvalade match will isolate themselves at the top of the I Liga, but both know that in the event of a draw, first place will be left at the mercy of Benfica or Sp. Braga. Looking at history, the classic has been played in the colors blue and white. After all, Sporting have only won two of their last twenty games and the last time they beat FC Porto for the championship was in 2016, still in the era of Jorge Jesus (2-1, in the 3rd round).
In the classics, the balance tilts to the North, although Rúben Amorim’s team has not suffered a single defeat at home in 14 matches. However, the Sporting coach has still failed to beat the Dragons for the championship on home turf since taking over the Lions in March 2020. On Monday, after admitting that he copied Sérgio Conceição’s dead ball training, he will get another chance.
Banza vs. Cabral
This Sunday evening, Pedreira will host the other big match of the day, a classic from the modern era, with Benfica visiting Sp. Braga. The national champions will be encouraged by the victory in Salzburg, which kept the team in the European competitions after a few days of turmoil. However, the last two trips to Braga were traumatic for Roger Schmidt’s team, who lost to the I League last season (0-3) and were eliminated from the Portuguese Cup on penalties. Sp. Braga appears on the field, after losing in Naples and still assured of passage to the Europa League in a very complicated group. The main asset of coach Artur Jorge is the best attack in the I League (36 goals) and the top scorer of the competition, the Frenchman Simon Banza, who has already scored 13 accurate shots. Braga is clearly recovering, as they were already eight points behind the leader, but in the last few laps they reduced the difference to just two and were even able to reach first place at the end of this round, albeit on equal footing with the lions and dragons, if they win and if there is a draw in the classic.
The ownership of Arthur Cabral is the topic of the moment for the Luz teams, in a round in which Roger Schmidt should be grateful to play away to cool the tense atmosphere among the Benfica fans, after the protests during the match with Farense, after which the German coach asked those who do not support the team to stay at home. The truth is that, in the event of a victory or a draw in the Alvalade game, these protests become a celebration embodied by the isolated leadership. On the other hand, if defeated by Minho, Schmidt will face the enormous pressure of falling to fourth place and falling behind the competition.
Source: DN
