Young Boys – Sporting CP : Preview & Prediction
Current Swiss Super League leaders Young Boys may have dropped from the Champions League group stage to this round of the UEFA Europa League playoffs, but despite that, they will still feel confident of advancing against Sporting Lisbon thanks to their solid form. Despite squandering the lead three times over the weekend to eventually draw 3-3 with Lugano, the hosts have lost just two of their last 11 official matches (G7, E2).
With the first result of that run being a 2-0 home win over Red Star in the Champions League group stage, the reigning Swiss champions have enjoyed the comfort of being on their home turf this season, avoiding defeat in 13 of their 15 official matches at home (G11, E2). That said, both losses came in European competitions, while a previous run of four games without a win against Portuguese opponents (E2, P2) suggests that this will be a tough challenge.
The tie looks to become even more difficult considering that Sporting Lisbon come here having won 11 of their last 12 matches in all competitions (E1), a run that has taken them to second place in the Portuguese top flight. However, the visitors failed to win their Europa League group, so a second consecutive appearance in the playoff round of this competition remains their path to European success.
At this stage of last season, Sporting soundly defeated Danish side Midtjylland 5-1 on aggregate, a success story they will be desperate to repeat this season, but this first leg represents another tough challenge given that they have won just one of their last four European away appearances (E2, P1). The visitors can at least draw on their nine wins in 16 European matches against Swiss opponents (E3, P4), having only managed more victories against Dutch (12) and English (10) teams in their European history!
Players to watch: Young Boys’ Joël Monteiro has scored six goals in competitive action this season, five of them at home, while his side have won in each of his five goalscoring appearances. At the weekend, Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres took his goal total for the campaign to 27 in 29 games in all competitions, nine of which have opened the scoring.
Key stat: Only one of Sporting’s last seven official matches saw both teams score.
Young Boys – Sporting CP : Betting Tips
Sporting – Win Odds: 2.25
