Europa League: Sporting Lisbon v Levski Sofia - Lisbon lose Mendes till November
Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon will hope to put their domestic troubles behind them as they take on Bulgarian side Levski Sofia in the Europa League tonight. Lisbon drew 1-1 with Nacional to slip to eighth place in the table over
the weekend, giving leaders FC Porto a 10 point lead at the top of the table in the Portuguese league.
However, Rui Patricio, the Sporting Lisbon number 1, revealed that a victory in Europe could help improve their domestic form. The goal keeper said while talking to reporters, “We are now 10 points behind Porto, but we are professionals
and we will never throw in the towel.”
He added, “We can only continue to work to fix what we did wrong and we cannot let this game affect our performance in the Europa League. On Thursday, we will play like we always do: to win. We will do everything we can to get
back to winning ways.”
Patricio’s optimism may be short lived as Sporting were recently informed that they would be without midfielder Pedro Mendes for the Europa League clash tonight. In fact, the star midfielder is reported to be sidelined until November
after undergoing a surgery to repair a knee tendon injury.
The club’s doctor, Dr Gomes Pereira said, “We anticipate that the player will need around six weeks before he can be fully re-integrated into the squad.” This comes as a huge blow to the club and it is expected that Mendes’ absence
will affect the team’s already dwindling performances.
Both sides won their opening group games and will be looking to outdo the other in hopes of securing all three points. This game will be essential in determining who will finish at the top of the group. So far, both sides have
an equal chance of gaining that position, so much so that pundits predict that tonight’s match will end in a draw.
The Levski Sofia coach however does not seem to have much faith in his team. The Bulgarian was quoted as saying, “Sporting are the favorites in the group and we are sure that the match will be very tough, but Levski players will
do their best on the field to win the match or win a point.”
Possible Starting XI
Sporting Lisbon: Rui Patrício, J. Pereira, D. Carriço, Anderson Polga, Evaldo, M. Fernández, André Santos, S. Vukcevic, D. Salomão, Liedson, Hélder Postiga.
Levski Sofia: G. Petkov, D. Mulder, C. Benzoukane, I. Ivanov, V. Minev, D. Tasevski, S. Greene, Alex, D. Mladenov, Joãozinho, G. Dembélé.
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