Sporting Lisbon v C S K A Moscow - 18th May

[kompressaur]

Usually an indication that its getting near summer when the UEFA cup final comes about.

I forgot it was even on and truth be told i still dont as i dont know when the 18th is. I presume its on Thurday as it usually is.

Where about is this game being played?

[trickrick]

The match is actually being played at Sporting Lisbon's ground - so it is in effect a home match for Lisbon..

Early thoughts - CSKA are certainly a stubborn team away from home - expect an attempt from them to frustrate the talented Portugese team..I expect Lisbon to win, but I wouldn't be at all suprised if it went to extra time..

My initial thoughts are:-

Under 2.5 goals @ 1.72 - Medium/Strong bet
Draw at Half time - Small/Medium bet
H/T F/T - Draw/Draw @ 5.5 - Very Small Bet

[kompressaur]

Cheers Rick. Just noticed it is tonight (wed) I was positive it used to be thursdays

I would be looking along simliar lines as you with the undr Rick but i could be talked into the home especially if i could get evens in my local.

[Kiko]

Sporting missing Pinilla through injury - dont know what kind of blow this is to them. Read he's a striker but with only 5 goals im not sure, maybe he plays just in behind him.

Could be a good shout on the unders. Sportings last 5 games have fallen under the criteria of this while its along the same lines for CSKA. They are struggling a bit in their league since it has restarted and have struggled to score goals when playing the top teams from Russia.

Fancy Sporting myself - Liedson needs one more goal to be topgoalscorer for the tournament also.

[crowie]

From UEFA.com

Forty-one years since their last taste of European glory, Sporting Clube de Portugal stand just one game from joining an illustrious band of clubs who have celebrated victory on home soil in a major European final when they take on PFC CSKA Moskva at the Estádio José Alvalade in the UEFA Cup final tonight.

Home advantage
Their path to this showpiece may have taken more twists and turns than a trademark run by their forward Liedson, but coach José Peseiro is confident his side can go one better than the Portuguese national team did at UEFA EURO 2004™ and lift the cup in front of their own supporters. "I believe we can do it because I believe in the quality of my players," Peseiro told uefa.com.

Sporting destiny
"We are on the brink of a great achievement. Everyone in Portugal expects us to win this game and I am no different. We have trained so hard for this, knowing we have the chance to win it in our own back garden and now we are there this is the best chance we will ever have to fulfil our destiny. We will not let anyone down."

Famous five
Should Sporting seize the UEFA Cup baton from last year's winners Valencia CF, they will become the fifth club to win on their own doorstep in European competition history, treading in the hallowed footsteps of Feyenoord, Real Madrid CF, FC Internazionale Milano and FC Barcelona. Victory will also further endorse the view that Portuguese football is as strong now as it ever has been, Sporting taking the country's tally to four major finalists in the last three years.




Sound infrastructure
"We are proud to fly the Portuguese flag in a major European final," said Peseiro, whose side are just one goal away from scoring 300 in continental football, although the Sporting coach's attacking options are narrowed by Tuesday's training injury to Chilean striker Mauricio Pinilla. "It is wonderful we have the chance to continue the tradition started by [FC] Porto and the national team. It shows we have the coaches, the players and the infrastructure to compete at the highest level."

Enakarhire back
Peseiro, a staunch disciple of the 4-4-2 system, welcomes back defensive lynchpin Joseph Enakarhire, although he is expected to start on the bench as the coach remains faithful to the central pairing of Beto and Anderson Polga. The man the bookmakers believe is most likely to score that landmark goal is Brazilian Liedson, who missed the weekend's costly SuperLiga defeat by SL Benfica, but returns to partner Sá Pinto in attack.

Same eleven
One man keen to prevent Sporting reaching any such milestone is CSKA coach Valeriy Gazzaev, who remains upbeat despite Sporting's home advantage. Incredibly, this will be the Russian team's 19th European game of the season, which includes their UEFA Champions League adventure. And Gazzaev, who is expected to keep the same eleven that defeated Parma FC in the semi-finals in their usual 3-5-2 formation, insists his side can cause an upset if they nullify Liedson.




'Quality players'
"I believe in the individual quality of my players," he told uefa.com. "They are in good form and have the character to stand up to Sporting. Sporting are a very strong side individually. Ricardo, [Fabio] Rochemback and Liedson are their key men but they also have great experience in Sá Pinto and Pedro Barbosa. But I have faith in my team and expect us to push them all the way." CSKA have already drawn twice in Portugal this term, against Benfica and Porto. On Wednesday night, however, they must go one better.

[crowie]

In many European finals you have to weigh up the fact that the game is on a neutral ground and how that would affect the price. Tonight however while the final was given to Lisbons José Alvalade stadium and is supposedly neutral we all know its not. Its Sportings home ground, they will have the vast majority of the fans and therefore we have to view them as the home team, CSKA as the away.

I actually thought too much was made of Sportings win over an injury hit Newcastle side in the 1/4's (and Boro in the previous round) and thought they were a bit to short to qualify. I felt they were priced up shorter than they should be simply because they had caught the UK publics eye and beaten a couple of English sides in the competition. I laid them in the semi's to qualify. In the end they came from 1 down at home to win that leg and 3-1 down and on the verge of being knocked out out to find a last minute goal away to AZ in the away leg.

So, despite a "long winded" road they have managed to get to the final hosted in their own ground.

CSKA meanwhile have been quite impressive in Europe this season. They have also done well to avoid the normal problem that affects Russian clubs where they perform well in Europe and then hit a period where they still have European games to play but their domestic season is over. CSKA have worked their way through that phase and came out the other end still in Europe.


So lets look at the records in Europe this season. CSKA first off all. As the away side I have examined their away record in Europe. They have actually reached this final by the long route of CL qualifiers, CL groups and then UEFA Cup. They have played a total of 9 away games in all competitions. And won only 1, away to PSG in the CL group stages. They had early draws at Rangers and Neftchi (Azerbaijan) in the CL qualifiers, lost at Chelsea and drew at Sportings domestic rivals (Porto 0-0 in CL, Benfica 1-1 in UEFA Cup). Subsequent rounds have seen them draw at Partizan Belgrade, lose at Auxerre (tie already over after 4-0 1st leg win) and draw at a half strength Parma side in the semi finals.

9 away games, 1 defeat, 1 win and 7 draws.


Sportings home record has been quite impressive. In the UEFA Cup between qualifiers, groups and knockout stages they have played 7 home games and ended up with a record of 6 wins and 1 loss, rather surprisingly to Sochaux 1-0 in the group stages.

Bar the Middlesboro home leg, having already won 3-2 at Boro, and the qualifier tie v Rapid Bucharest they have conceded in every game at home.


So, you have a team with a pretty good home record versus one who has only lost once away, to Chelsea, but has drawn 7 games.

Sportings home record impresses me, the fact that they seem to concede at home often doesn't.

CSKA seem difficult to beat away from home and this is the thing thats swaying me from being fully committed to Sporting at the moment. However my final factor comes back to where I started, I view this as a home game for Sporting tonight, overall they have an impressive home record and therefore I will take them to win the game in 90 minutes.

5pts on Sporting at 2.00 with Bet365

I was swayed to a bet on over 2.5 at approx 2.40 on the exchanges due to Sporting being quite liable to concede a goal, however over/under isn't a bet I find to be that confident in unless there are some clear trends one way or the other.

[MickeyPaul]

From what I can remember of CSKA against a poor Rangers side, Crowie..... I wasn't all that impressed. They did look quite solid for most of the match at Ibrox mind until the closing stages when Rangers became desperate (I'm sure Marvin Andrews missed a real sitter at the end). I wish I had access to some Sporting footage or at least an idea of their style of play as I haven't really been following the uefa cup this season. I'm gonna go look into this. Brb.

[keemanan]

Good stuff Crowie , read in the times I think this morning in the caff that only Liverpool have managed to win a final at an opponents home ground.
i just cant see it myself . Sporting for me too

[crowie]

Mickey,

Have seen bits and pieces of Sporting. Watched both the games v Newcastle. They weren't that great at St James (in contrast to being pretty impressive for 60 minutes at injury hit Boro). In Lisbon v Newcastle they didn't really start to take control of the game until Newcastle started to lose players via injury. In the end I think they were 13 minutes from going out against a Newcastle side with 2 18 year olds and 1 19 year old on the pitch. The 4th goal was a shambles in injury time from a Newcastle side pushing for a second. Dyer terrified the Sporting defence until he had to go off and I still think Newcastle would have gone through if he had stayed on the pitch. All that considered, I felt AZ had a fair chance of knocking them out.

AZ gave them a very hard game in Holland and were minutes/seconds from going through. I didn't see anything of the 1st leg of the semi.

Not the greatest write up for the team I am backing However the one thing that is a positive from the Newcastle game in Lisbon was the atmosphere when Sporting were pushing for a 2nd and 3rd, superb.

Sporting have a couple of very decent players up front. Leidson just looks a natural goal scorer. Scored a good goal in Holland, ball pinging about the box just before HT, Sporting player drives the ball in towards goal and there was Leidson on the 6 yard box to divert the ball into goal. Looks pretty slippery, good on the dribble and seems to be in the right place at right time like a lot of good goalscorers. Reminds me of Romario a little.

Doula is a flyer of a winger, very very fast. They also have Rochemback on loan from Barca (remember him pinging one in at Anfield for Barca a season or two ago) in midfield, Barbosa a very decent player. They do look a little shaky in central defence though hence them conceding in a few games. They do play at a pretty high tempo though which together with the crowd atmosphere may take them past CSKA tonight.


Not seen much of CSKA bar the Rangers game where they looked the better side as the game went on. Also saw 20/30 minutes of their CL game in Porto where they looked very decent on the break.

[Bigkegman]

CSKA have impressed me this year already I'm taking them to take care of Sporting.

CSKA have already played twice in Portugal this year and are undefeated - both draws against Benfica and porto.

Sporting IMO must have afavs chance playing in their own stadium but they have been riding their luck - Boro should have had them out (Sporting looked fantastic in the 1st half - got to admit) but after Boro Newcastle should have had them out but Newcastle have bottled it most this season and once again did and then AZ losing a goal in injury time of ET - unbelievable but the odds on CSKA are too high.

CSKA +.5 on Asian @ 1.92

[MickeyPaul]

Thank you again Crowie. You had convinced me there, then Bigkegman stepped in and made me waver. It's just too tight for me although the stadium factor may tip it in Sporting's favour. If I were Sporting I'd come out all guns blazing for an early goal. Bah. I can't get the fact Moscow didn't impress me at Ibrox out of my mind. Ok. I'm gonna chance Sporting and pray they have a great start.

Best of luck all, especially me.

[MickeyPaul]

Well, they got the right start, Sporting. Look to have collapsed. Thankfully I aint watching......

[Kiko]

I was just in the middle of putting up the bet i had just placed. Not going to say as was after eventing but i'll say i almost had a heart attack with that liedson miss!!

[Kiko]

If anyone is interested, CSKA are a great bet for the next goal!!
Lisbon are going to be going gung ho and you can see everytime they are having opportunities.

[Kiko]

That is fantastic - i like little stories like this, small nation winning European cup. I have never liked Lisbon - they have always striked me as a right bunch of arrogant cocks!