THE Sporting has a meeting scheduled with LASK Linz for 8pm (Mainland Portugal time) this Wednesday, at the José Alvalade Stadium, knowing in advance that a possible new victory will leave them ‘launched’ to guarantee (at least) qualification for the Champions League playoff.
The Lions have six points won out of a possible six, thanks to the triumphs achieved over Galatasaray (3-1) and Lens (0-2), but they want more, in a match in which Rui Borges should take the opportunity to make a series of ‘changes’ in the starting eleven, even taking into account the characteristics of the opponent he will face.
Rodrigo Zalazar is a certain casualty, for physical reasons, as are Zeno Debast and Nuno Santos, who continue to look for the best version, against an Austrian team that has a ‘noose around its throat’, in the million-dollar competition, due to the defeats recorded against AEK (by 1-0) and Liverpool (by 3-6).
It is, however, necessary to take into account that this is a club that has already made life ‘black’ for the green and whites. In 2019/20, they received and beat them, by a resounding 3-0, in the group stage of the Europa League, and, in 2020/21, they defeated them, by 1-4, at the José Alvalade Stadium, to prevent them from qualifying for the second biggest club competition on the Old Continent.
Sporting-LASK Linz will be refereed by Scotsman Nicholas Walsh, who will lead a team made up of assistants Francis Coonor and Daniel McFarlane, fourth official Donald Robertson, VAR Stuar Attwell and AVAR Piotr Lasyk.
Scroll through the photo gallery and check out Sporting’s likely eleven.
