Braga take on the visitors Sporting Lisbon in the semifinal match of Portuguese League Cup. The match will be played on Tuesday, January 23rd at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa (Leiria).
Braga primarily hold the fourth position. However, last season was a pleasant exception for local fans: by displacing Sporting, the team finished third. This earned them a place in the Champions League, where the Portuguese navigated through the qualifiers but finished third in the group - above Berlin's Union but below Napoli, not to mention Real Madrid. On the domestic front, under the guidance of Artur Jorge, they returned to their usual place, defending the fourth spot against the claims of Vitoria Guimaraes, whom they recently failed to defeat at home. However, they managed to squeeze past Famalicao, securing a gritty 2-1 victory in added time. In the cup, they went down 2-3 in a shootout against Benfica.
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Sporting (Lisbon) are convincingly navigating this competition. The Lions slid to fourth place by the end of 2022/2023 - a setback in any case. However, Ruben Amorim retained his position and is currently justifying the trust placed in him with excellent results. He ensured progression to the League Cup playoffs. More importantly, the Green and Whites not only re-entered the title race in the Primeira Liga but also surpassed their perennial rivals, Benfica and Porto. Of course, the competition will be fierce until the very last matchday. They just need to keep winning, and they wrapped up a 5-2 victory against Vizela away, despite conceding an early goal. The battle for the cup title is also ongoing, with a quarterfinal match against the modest Leiria coming up soon.
Sporting Lisbon won most of the matchups, including those in the more successful previous season. However, in September, it ended in a 1-1 draw. The nominal visitors are currently much stronger. We expect them to win in regular time.
Prediction for the match: Sporting Lisbon to win.
