Highly rated Portuguese coach Ruben Amorim came into the Sporting CP job in 2021 as his first in senior management
Since then, the club has been on the up with his high-octane style of entertaining football structured on positional awareness and offensive football.
Recall, Sporting knocked out Arsenal in the last edition playing out a 2-2 draw in Portugal and a 1-1 draw in England running out as winners after penalty shootouts. Also standing tall to Serie A giants Juventus in the quarter-finals but Fernando Gatti’s first-leg lone goal proved to be the difference as they played out another 1-1 draw in Portugal with the heavyweights.
Having established a pedigree of sorts in the competition, they were grouped in the 2023/2024 season with Austria’s Sturm Graz, Rakow Czestochowa from Poland, and the more-known Atalanta Bergamo Calcio in Italy. They kickstarted their campaign with a comeback victory over Sturm Graz. Summer signing Viktor Gyokeres from Coventry City and Ivorian central defender Ousmane Diomande added two goals in the space of 8 minutes.
However, they failed to win in both of their encounters against Atalanta with a 2-1 loss at home which saw Gyokeres netting another tourney goal. The Marcus Edwards goal away in Italy secured them a share of the spoils after Gianluca Scamacca’s opening goal.
Viktor Gyokeres’ red card away in Poland against Rakow Czestochowa proved costly, as they could only settle for a point in that encounter and eventually win the return leg. Nonetheless, the 25-year-old Viktor Gyokeres returning from his suspension in the final game netted in the 39th minute and was accompanied by Liverpool linked center back Goncalo Inacio’s second-half brace which rounded off their group stage campaign.
Swiss outfit Young Boys come into the first round of the UEFA Europa League knockouts having ended up third in their UEFA Champions League group, one that featured German side RB Leipzig, defending champions Manchester City, and familiar Serbian outfit FK Crvena Zvezda. Having bested Maccabi Haifa across the playoffs. Former Basel manager Raphael Wicky’s boys could only settle for a second runner-up spot with only their one win making the difference between themselves and eventual fourth-place Crvena Zvezda.
They began their campaign with a 3-1 home loss to RB Leipzig, with goals from Mohamed Simakan, Xaver Schlager, and Benjamin Sesko. Then, they secured a 2-2 draw with Crvena Zvezda in their first-leg encounter via Cedric Itten and Filip Ugrinic. But afterward, they were condemned to two separate Erling Haaland braces across both ties against Manchester City in 1-3 and 3-0 defeats.
Young Boys’ only win came in their return leg to their Serbian counterparts. Lewin Blum added one more to an earlier goal from in the 29th minute to secure a 2-0 victory and round it up with a defeat to RB Leipzig yet again. Emil Forsberg’s winner canceled out Ebrima Colley’s game-equalizing goal.
There are no current head-to-head ties between both sides. With each team a heavyweight in their domestic exploits, they’ll both look to bring this remarkable form into the first knockout stage of the UEFA Europa League. In a bid to progress to the next round and consequently secure an advantage over their counterparts in the head-to-head venture.
Match tickets
This return leg is scheduled for Lisbon at the historic Estadio Jose Alvalade on Thursday the 22nd of February, 2024 at 20:00 GMT.
The 50,095-capacity stadium will host this exciting fixture that could produce several goals.
Getting tickets for the Sporting vs Young Boys tickets could take a lot of work given the standard of this game. Hence, you are advised to search ticket reselling sites should they be expectedly sold out on each club’s channels.
Team news
Lineups
Sporting CP secured arguably the bargain of the summer when they pried topman Viktor Gyokeres away from the unnoticing eyes of Premier League teams. The Swedish forward has settled in rather quickly accumulating 19GAs in his first league 16 games and 3 goals in 5 Europa League starts. He’s also joked about revealing the ideology behind his media-curious goal celebration only if Sporting wins the league.
Offensive support will also come in persons of Marcus Edwards, former Barcelona player Francesco Trincao as well as the free-scoring set piece maestro Pedro Goncalves. The veteran Sebastian Coates is flanked on either side in defence by highly rated young center-backs Goncalo Inacio and Ousmane Diomande commanding interest from the rest of Europe. With former Real Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan in between the sticks, the defensive contingent is surely resounding.
Japanese workhorse Hidemasa Morita and Danish Dynamite Morten Hjumland will provide the necessary workload from the middle of the park.
Sporting: Adan; Quaresma, Diomande, Inacio; Catamo, Hjumland, Morita, Matheus; Edwards, Gyokeres, Goncalves.
Young Boys’ long-term injury worry is Swiss defensive midfielder Kastriot Imeri is out of the season. Cedric Itten and 18-year-old attacker Malik Deme are still recuperating from their respective leg and hip injuries. Raphael Wicky has to be on the very best of his tactical onus to get past thinker Ruben Amorim.
Young Boys XI – Von Ballmoos; Persson, Benito, Camara, Blum; Ugrinic, Lauper, Lakomy; Males, Ganvoula, Monteiro
Prediction
This affair looks like it’s Sporting CP’s to lose as they have enough arsenal across the field to secure their spot in the next round over their Swiss counterparts. The Portuguese are quite experienced at this stage and it will take a lot to beat them at home. Therefore, we are tipping the hosts to get the necessary win.
Sporting 3-1 Young Boys