JAKARTA Arsenal bagged a sweet record when they played the first leg of the last 16 of the 2022/2023 European League to Portugal giant Sporting Lisbon.
The duel between the two teams will take place at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, Friday, March 10, 2023 at 00.45 WIB. This is the fifth meeting between the two teams in European competition.
The Gunners advanced as winners of Group A in the second caste competition between European clubs. They got this position very comfortably after conceding only three and scoring eight goals from six preliminary matches.
Meanwhile, Sporting entered this competition after finishing third in the group stage of the European Champions League. Ruben Amorim's team then beat Midtjylland with a score of 5-1 in the playoffs to get a ticket for the last 16.
Dreams to win a domestic and continental title together are certainly not somewhat impossible for Sporting.
The reason is, they are currently ranked fourth in the Primeira League standings Portugal and 15 points behind leaders Benfica.
Domestic opportunities are so small even though they have won the last three games in the main division. The fourth straight win and third straight clean sheet they just bagged after a narrow 1-0 win over Portimone last weekend.
However, only two of their last four home games in all tournaments ended in wins. Therefore, it is rather difficult to see Sporting be able to overcome the Gunners to keep their hopes of adding to their only European win from the 1963/1964 Cup Winners' Cup.
Sporting's only defeat in the last 16 of the European League in its current format came against defending champion Atletico Madrid in 2009/2010.
However, Meriam London has a slick record of never losing to the Portuguese representative in four previous clashes.
Apart from never losing, the London giant's goal has never been broken into in four meetings. Arsenal and Sporting have previously met twice in the European League in the 2018/2019 group phase.
At that time the Gunners performed better and were able to take four points in two meetings to top the final standings of the group. They then reached the final and lost 1-4 to city rivals Chelsea in the final.
Prediction of the line-up
Sporting Lisbon (3-4-3): Adan; Inacio, Coates, St. Juste; Esgaio, Tanlongo, Morita, Reis; Edwards, Paulinho, Goncalves
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Turner; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Xhaka, Jorginho; Saka, Odegaard, Smith Rowe; Martinelli
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