Sporting
Lisbon
Are they any good?
Runners-up in the Portuguese league for the past two seasons.
Sporting's world-renowned football academy has produced Luis Figo,
Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani.
Stadium: Sporting play their home games at the
Estádio José Alvalade, which was purpose-built for the 2004
European Football Championship. The venue has a capacity of 52,000
and was acoustically engineered as a venue for major concerts. Its
official opening was on 6 August 2003 when Sporting played United.
They beat the Reds 3-1.
Manager: Paulo Bento won 35 Portuguese caps before
retiring at 34 to become youth team coach at Sporting, the last
club he played for. After much success with the Sportings academy
he was promoted to manage the senior team and steered them to
second place in the domestic league in 2005/06 and 2006/07. He also
won the Portuguese Cup. He is now considered one of the top coaches
in the country, and has been likened in management style to
compatriot Jose Mourinho.
Star player: Without doubt, Sporting Lisbons star
player is front man Liédson. The 30-year-old Brazilian striker
arrived from Corinthians in 2003 and is known for his pace. What he
lacks in height - hes 5ft 9in - he makes up for with commitment
and he has no problem in finding the net if given the chance. To
date hes bagged 57 goals in 93 appearances for the club. This
season hell be partnered up front by new £1.3 million signing
Serbian Milan Purovic. The towering 6ft 3in forward comes from Red
Star Belgrade.
Last seasons Champions League results: Sporting
didnt get past the group stages last term having been draw against
European giants Internazionale, Bayern Munich and Spartak Moscow.
Unsurprisingly, they finished bottom of the group with only five
points. Perhaps the lowest point came when Spartak ended a record
22-match run without a victory in the Champions League by beating
Sporting 3-1 in their final Group B match.
Last time we met: The last time these two sides
clashed competitively was in the 1963/64 Cup Winners Cup
quarter-final. Having been fairly spanked 4-1 at Old Trafford, the
second leg was a stunning comeback, in which the home side ran out
5-0 victors, before going on to win the final against MTK Hungaria
FC.
