Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund: Preview, predictions and lineups | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund travel to Lisbon for the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Sporting CP.

It's been a whirlwind 2024/25 for both teams, with Sporting CP fading following the departure of Ruben Amorim to Manchester United. The Portuguese champions were primed for a top-eight finish in the league phase table after thumping Manchester City 4-1, but they failed to win any of their final four games and barely scraped into the play-offs as a result.

Amorim's successor, Joao Pereira, lasted just six weeks in charge and Sporting have been led by Rui Borges since Boxing Day. They're four points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga.

Niko Kovac oversaw defeat on his managerial bow at Dortmund on Saturday having replaced Nuri Sahin in the dugout. Last season's finalists endured an up-and-down league phase but victory over Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 8 saw them finish tenth and just outside the automatic qualification spots for the round of 16.

They'll now do battle with Sporting over two legs in a bid to continue their continental journey.

Here's all you need to know about Tuesday's Champions League play-off.

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund H2H Record (All Games)

Current form (all competitions)

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Sporting CP team news

Morten Hjulmand is suspended for the first leg / Diogo Cardoso/GettyImages

Ill discipline marred Sporting's 1-1 draw at Porto late on Friday night, with Ousmane Diomande and Matheus Reis receiving their marching orders in stoppage time. However, the pair are available for Tuesday's game.

Morten Hjulmand, on the other hand, is suspended after the midfielder picked up his third booking of the competition last time out against Bologna. He'll be back for the second leg.

Viktor Gyokeres has been nursing a minor injury but should be fine to start on Tuesday, while Nuno Santos, Pedro Goncalves and Joao Simoes are all out injured.

Sporting CP predicted lineup vs Borussia Dortmund

Sporting CP predicted lineup vs Dortmund (4-3-3): Israel; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Braganca, Debast, Morita; Trincao, Gyokeres, Quenda.

Borussia Dortmund team news

New signing Carney Chukwuemeka missed Dortmund's defeat at the weekend / SOPA Images/GettyImages

January arrival Carney Chukwuemeka took a knock in training after joining on Deadline Day and is a doubt for Tuesday's game after missing the weekend's defeat to Stuttgart. Experienced playmaker Julian Brandt will continue to operate as Dortmund's number ten if the newbie isn't fit to feature.

Julian Ryerson is available despite picking up two yellow cards on Saturday, while Emre Can continues to be preferred to Niklas Sule at centre-back.

Former Premier League midfielders Marcel Sabitzer and Pascal Gross are likely to operate in tandem at the base of Dortmund's midfield with Felix Nmecha sidelined.

Dortmund predicted lineup vs Sporting CP (4-2-3-1): Kobel; Ryerson, Can, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy.

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund score prediction

Kovac was beaten on debut, and it'll take the new manager time to oversee a shift away from the Edin Terzic/Sahin era. This Dortmund team were woeful defensively under the previous regime, and Kovac will eventually render them a tricky outfit for anyone.

However, the vulnerabilities which have manifested all season remain, and we know that BVB have almost always been reliant on the atmosphere created at Signal Iduna Park as a means of enjoying success in this competition. On their run to the final last season, Dortmund failed to win at PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid in the knockout stages before beating Paris Saint-Germain in both legs of the semi-final.

There are tougher places to go than this iteration of Sporting, that's for sure, but the hosts have enjoyed an extra day's rest and have the hitmen in attack capable of making Dortmund pay for lapses in concentration which have been all too common this term.