Sporting, champion of the last two editions, and FC Porto, who won the Super Cup to open the season, will play the 16th final of the Football League Cup in Leiria on Saturday, the cursed test of dragons .
The ‘green and white’ formation seeks the third consecutive victory and the fifth in six years -the exception was the victory of Sporting de Braga, by Rúben Amorim, in 2019/20-, to be only two ‘cups’ behind the Benfica record holder.
FC Porto, meanwhile, seeks to end the drought and become the sixth team to lift the trophy, in what will be their fifth final, after four defeats, in 2009/10, 2012/13, 2018/19 and 2019 / 20, to which he adds six eliminations in the ‘socks’.
As for Sporting, they have won their last four appearances in the finals -two on penalties-, after having lost the decisive matches of the first two editions, first against Vitória de Setúbal (2007/08) and then against Benfica (2008/08). 09). , both also in the penalty shootout.
If the ‘lions’ are second in the ‘ranking’, their coach, Rúben Amorim, is the great individual protagonist, since he already has nine titles, six as a player, five for Benfica and one for Sporting de Braga, and three as a coach, in the last three finals.
Taking into account the past in the competition, the ‘leonina’ formation is thus clearly in the lead, and also in 2022/23 it presents an immaculate campaign, with five victories in as many games and a total of 20 goals scored, for only one suffered.
In the group stage, played simultaneously with the 2022 World Cup, Sporting added defeats at home against the ‘secondary’ Farense (6-0) and Marítimo (5-0), and, in between, prevailed in the stronghold of Rio Ave (2 – 0), to, in the quarterfinals, add a new ‘hand’ (5-0) -written in the first half- against Sporting de Braga.
In Leiria, in the first match of the ‘final four’, the Verdiblancos fought to beat Arouca (2-1), which they achieved with a ‘double’ from Paulinho, who has been the great figure of the competition, with eight goals , and decided the game in the 82nd minute.
As for FC Porto, they started with the ‘left foot’, drawing 2-2 against ‘secondary’ Mafra, who even led 2-0 in Dragão, but then won 2-0 in Chaves and thrashed Vizela at home 4-0, to win Group A.
The ‘dragons’ beat Gil Vicente 2-0 and, in Leiria, they beat the ‘secondary’ Académico de Viseu, who was coming off a 20-game streak without losing, 3-0.
The two teams thus reach the final undefeated and, for different reasons, with an immense desire to win the trophy, in the case of Sporting because it is the most realistic possibility of not finishing 2022/23 with zero, even knowing that the League Cup does not save time.
As for FC Porto, who have already won the Super Cup (3-0 against ‘secondary’ Tondela), this is the only national competition that they have never won, having become, for Dragão’s full-backs, almost an obsession, after initially having been ‘despised’.
‘Damn’ aside, the ‘dragons’ are even better, since, in the only match of the season, they beat the ‘lions’ 3-0, in Dragão, with a goal from Evanilson, in the first half, and penalties of Uribe and Galeno, in the second.
Sporting, on the other hand, has the advantage of having one more day of rest, leaving the doubt as to whether they will have Paulinho, who left the game with Arouca due to a right shoulder injury, and Pedro Porro, possibly one step away from the game. to Tottenham.
The match between Sporting and FC Porto, in the 16th final of the Football League Cup, is scheduled for Saturday, at 7:45 p.m., at the Estádio Municipal Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, in Leiria.
Source: TSF
