Atalanta and Sporting Lisbon will battle out a feisty affair when they face each other at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in the first leg of the two-legged Europa League Round of 16.Â
Sporting come into this match on the back of a nine-game unbeaten streak across all competitions as they have emerged as the favourites to win the Liga Portugal this season. Ruben Amorim’s side’s last match ended in a thrilling 3-2 victory versus Farense. Daniel Braganca opened the scoring and Viktor Gyokeres doubled the lead in the 29th minute. The visitors equalised the scores following goals by Bachir Belloumi and Ze Luis but Pedro Goncalves’ second-half strike stood as the difference between the two sides. Sporting failed to beat their last-16 opponents in the group stage clashes an found their only defeat in the campaign at home.
Meanwhile, Atalanta will hope to get back to winning ways after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bologna in their previous outing which extended their winless run to three consecutive games. After the 1-1 draw with Milan, La Dea were thrashed by Serie A leaders Inter and the dropped points have slimmed their expectations of finishing top-four this campaign. Goals from Giorgio Scalvini and Matteo Ruggeri steered Atalanta towards victory in the Europa League group stage clash versus the Portuguese outfits but they were held to a 1-1 draw at the Gewiss Stadium in the home matchup. Gian Piero Gasperini will hope to take his team to taste some European glory; progressing in the competition is vital for them this season.
Here are the predicted line-ups for the match according to Sky Italia:
Sporting Lisbon (3-4-3): Franco Israel; Quaresma, Coates, Reis; Genny Catamo, Hjulmand, Morita, Nuno Santos; Edwards, Gyokeres, Trincao.
Atalanta (3-4-2-1): Musso; Scalvini, Djimsiti, Kolasinac; Holm, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri; Koopmeiners, Lookman; De Ketelaere.
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Trambak Bhattacherjee | GIFN
