With three teams still in contention for the only place reserved for group B of the Portuguese League Cup, Sporting visit the Belenenses on Friday, September 29, in the third and final round of the tournament’s key stage. In the stadium of Restelo, in Lisbon, the confrontation begins scheduled for 5:15 pm (Brasília time).
Sporting, the leader of the group with four points, is the only one of the trio who can advance to the next stage that depends solely and exclusively on their result. If you win, you will guarantee the first place. The Belenenses share the second place with the Marítimo, who faces the already eliminated Madeira Union, which accumulated only one point.

The recent performance of Belenenses
For the Belenenses, not even the victory can be enough. With the Marítimo able to reach the same score, the definition would happen in the tiebreaker criteria. They are evened in the first of them, the goal balance, with zero. The Lisbon side takes the lead on the second item on this list, which is the highest number of goals scored (1 to 0). That is to say, it is a minimal difference, especially considering that the Madeira Union is, at least in theory, an easier rival.
Even with this scenario, the most unlikely result of this combination is the victory against Sporting. The Belenenses can not celebrate a success since the end of October. In November and December he made seven matches. He lost four and drew three.
With 17 points (five wins, two draws and eight losses), he ranks eleventh in the Portuguese Championship. Although it is a mid-table position, it can be considered relatively comfortable for a team whose sole purpose is to escape relegation. The difference for Estoril, which opens the region of the sticking in the seventeenth place, is six points.

The current form of Sporting

Sporting’s recent performance is quite different. There have been eight wins in the last nine games. The most recent was just the thrashing over the Union of Madeira by 6 to 0. In this way, there is a good chance that they will be able to reach the semifinals even if they tie the duel on Friday. However, even the victory does not dispense the club to cheer against the Marítimo, who can reach five points won.
Sporting’s extremely regular campaign in the first half of the season indicates that the risk of elimination is even lower. The team shares with Porto the leadership of the Portuguese Championship. He accumulated 39 points (12 wins and three draws) from the 45 played. It only ends up being relegated to the second position when the tiebreaker criteria are used. In that case, he loses in the goal balance (33 to 23).
In the Portuguese Cup, he secured the classification for the quarterfinals. He will face Cova de Piedade as a favorite to reach a place in the semifinals. Only failed to advance in the Champions League of Europe. It can not be considered a surprise in a group that had Barcelona and Juventus. But he got third place and the right to play in the second half of the season the Europa League. In the next phase will be in front, in February, the Astana.
Although of course the great goal of Sporting is even the conquest of the national title, something that has not happened for more than a decade, coach Jorge Jesus should not leave aside the possibility of advancing in the League Cup. That means that a team very close to the title should be scaled to the duel of this Friday, although the next commitment of the team in the Portuguese Championship is the classic against Benfica. There is enough time for recovery. The match is scheduled for January 3.

History of the bouts between Belenenses and Sporting
The teams met recently, on December 1, for the Portuguese Championship. At home, Sporting scored 1 to 0.

Sporting showed a clear improvement compared to the previous season. Jorge Jesus managed to reduce the irregularity that was remarkable in the team’s performances and, in this way, made the team more reliable. Thus, the visitors’ guess is the most appropriate for the Portuguese Cup match against Belenenses. Has a prize of 1.50 in Rivalo. Draw pays 4.00 and the constituents win pay 6.00 for 1.

– Sporting win @ 1.50
– DRAW @ 4.00
– Belenenses win @ 6.00