Champions League: Will City Give Lisbon A Sporting Chance?

Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester City

Manchester City are back on the Champions League trail when they head to Lisbon on Tuesday for a Round of 16 clash with Portuguese champions Sporting.

Pep Guardiola’s City are the favourites to lift the trophy for the first time, with the latest Champions League 2022 betting odds pricing the Sky Blues at 3.85. Sporting Lisbon are available at 451.00 with SBOTOP and only Red Bull Salzburg are longer at a price of 751.00. So this is a game which few neutrals will expect to go any other way than Manchester, and the Sky Blues are in ruthless form, arriving on the back of a 4-0 win away to Norwich City while Los Leones played out an action-packed 2-2 draw in a top of the table clash with Porto.

The Premier League side won’t take anything for granted in this game and Sporting will have to be at their very best to stay in the tie.

Talking Points

Sterling so hot for Manchester City

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Raheem Sterling scored a hat-trick in Manchester City’s destruction of the Canaries and he seems to be growing in confidence week after week. There has never been any doubting the England man’s ability; though his form has not been the best at times over the past two years. But he seems to be in the midst of a hot streak and is a good bet to add to his two Champions League goals on Tuesday.

Of course Sterling is not the only threat for Sporting to worry about. Riyad Mahrez is top scoring in the Champions League for City with five goals, and he’ll be pushing for more in the coming weeks, while Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne continue to pull the strings in midfield. When the Sky Blues drew Sporting Lisbon in the Round of 16 there will be few fans at the Etihad who would have worried at the prospect, and if their big players perform in Lisbon then they’ll be quite right.

Sporting’s spat with Porto could work either way

Los Leones won the Portuguese Primeira Liga last year but they are up against it this time around, currently six points behind FC Porto with 12 games to go. But in a bad tempered match which ended 2-2 they had a great chance to cut the deficit to three, at 2-1 up early in the second half. But the dismissal of Sebastian Coates on 49 minutes opened the door for Porto to stage a fight-back which they did, equalising late in the game; and when both teams had two players each sent off, after an ugly confrontation at the end of the game, they ended up with nine and eight players respectively.

So, with a chance missed and a scrap with their biggest domestic rivals fresh in the memory los Leones will be pumped up for this match, the question remains whether or not that is a good thing. They could get in the Sky Blues’ faces and take out their frustration on the English champions but, if they lose their shape and discipline then Guardiola’s side will pick them off at will.

Sporting CP's Pablo Sarabia will aim to score against Manchester City in the Champions League — Pablo Sarabia during Sporting CP’s match against Belenenses

Head coach Ruben Amorim will hope that midfield ace Pablo Sarabia, on loan from Paris Saint-Germain, will show his ability to match City’s quality, Paulinho is a dangerous striker who has bagged three goals in the competition so far.

History

Sporting Lisbon have been a dominant force in the Portuguese league, winning the Primeira Liga 19 times, though last season’s triumph was the first since 2002. And they have been regulars in European competition, winning the European Cup Winners Cup in 1964. But they are making up the numbers this year while Manchester City try to win their first Champions League.

In terms of head to heads, Sporting have won two of their three meetings with Manchester City, both at home, while the Sky Blues won the other encounter on their home turf.

Both teams are in good form, Sporting are unbeaten in five with four wins and a draw, while Manchester City are unbeaten in 12 matches and have won the last three.

Betting Tip

	Sporting Lisbon vs Manchester City	Manchester City Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 1.88
	February 16, 04:00 (GMT+8)

A Sporting win or even a draw would be huge Champions League 2022 news but can anyone really have confidence in Manchester City slipping up in Lisbon? Well if you think there may be an upset then a home win is available at odds of 9.40 or a draw is priced at 5.22 with the Double Chance (home or draw) at 3.43. Every now and then Manchester City have a blip, as they did in a draw with Southampton three weeks ago, but that is the exception rather than the norm, and I expect them to do a job on Sporting.