Santa Clara hosts Sporting in round 17 of Liga Portugal. The match will be played on Friday, January 7th at Estádio de São Miguel (Ponta Delgada)
In the previous season, Santa Clara set a historical record and took 6th place under the management of Daniel Ramos. The Azoreans even tried their hand in the Conference League in the summer. They eliminated Shkupi and Olympia and offered a decent resistance to experienced Partizan (2-1 at home and 0-2 away). Now there is a serious decline in Liga Portugal. Santa Clara fought for European competitions in the previous championship, but now it is struggling for survival. And this struggle is not particularly successful: only three victories and 13 points scored. Moreirense, which is ranked 16th, is one point behind, and the penultimate Famalicao has only two points less. However, Santa Clara managed to step up in December and gained two home victories over Arouca (2-1) and Vitoria Guimaraes (1-0).
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Sporting is the current titleholder. The bet on Ruben Amorim justified itself, and he won gold medals in his first full season. Moreover, the Lions showed themselves excellently in the Champions League. They were stronger than Borussia Dortmund in the fight for 2nd place in the group, and now they will try to prove themselves in the playoffs of the main European competition. At the same time, they look great in the current Portuguese championship. It is already clear that the fight for 1st place turns into a confrontation between two clubs with almost perfect statistics. Both Sporting and FC Porto have 14 victories and a couple of draws after 16 rounds. In such conditions, every misfire looks extremely dangerous. So far, Sporting is doing very well: after September 11, the Lisbon club managed to consistently gain victories both in the championship and in cups.
These opponents played 12 head-to-head matches in total, and Santa Clara managed to gain several draws in the first games. Since 2002, Sporting has won all the matches, including a 2-1 victory in the capital last March. Even at their peak, Santa Clara couldn't take points from the Lions. Sporting is simply obliged to win now, and the team will probably do it with a -1 handicap.
Prediction for the match: Sporting to win with -1.0 handicap
