Preview: Casa Pia vs Sporting Lisbon – prediction, team news, lineups KIK BALL

Sporting Lisbon will get their Liga Portugal title defence underway on Friday night when they travel to Estadio Municipal de Rio Maior to take on Casa Pia.

The visitors will be looking to lift their third straight league title this term, while the hosts are aiming to improve on back-to-back ninth-placed finishes.

Match preview

Sporting Lisbon finally ended their 19-year wait for a Portuguese league title in 2020-21, and the Lions have established themselves as a dominant force in domestic competition in the subsequent years.

They head into the 2025-26 season having won three of the last five Portuguese league titles, including in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, as well as one Taca de Portugal trophy and two Taca da Liga trophies in the past five years. 

Sporting had a strong pre-season as they prepared to compete for every domestic honour once again this term, but the Lions were disappointingly defeated in their opening competitive match of the campaign.

Rui Borges‘s side were defeated 1-0 by Benfica in the Super Cup final at the end of July, and they will now be eager to immediately rebound with an opening day victory in Liga Portugal, particularly as they aim to get off to a winning start to their title defence.

Sporting will be extremely confident of securing all three points on Friday night, as the Lions have won all of the last seven meetings with Casa Pia. 

However, Friday’s hosts did enjoy a superb pre-season in preparation for this campaign, recording two wins and three draws from their five friendly fixtures. 

Casa Pia will be hoping to carry that form into the 2025-26 term as they aim to improve upon their back-to-back ninth-placed finishes in Liga Portugal. 

The Geese were also at their best when playing at home last season, managing eight wins, four draws and five defeats from their 17 home league fixtures, and they will be relying on that home strength in this one.

Casa Pia form (all competitions):

W D D D W

Sporting Lisbon form (all competitions):

L D W W L

Team News

Casa Pia may remain without the services of Claudio Mendes, who has been ruled out of action since September 2024 due to a cruciate ligament injury.

Joao Pereira is expected to remain with a three defender formation given the team’s familiarity with the system, with Jose Fonte, Joao Goulart and Duplexe Tchamba likely to start. 

In attack, new signing Kelian Nsona scored in their last pre-season match and the winger is expected to start on Friday, with Cassiano and Jeremy Livolant also likely to feature in attack.

As for Sporting Lisbon, Daniel Braganca and Nuno Santos are not expected to feature in the 2025-26 Liga Portugal opener due to injury, though both are nearing their returns to action.

Matheus Reis will also be absent as the defender serves the second of a five-match suspension, meaning a backline of Ivan Fresneda, Ousmane Diomande, Goncalo Inacio and Maximiliano Araujo could start.

Following the departure of Viktor Gyokeres to Arsenal, 20-year-old Conrad Harder is expected to feature more consistently for Sporting this term, and the striker could start in this one.

Casa Pia possible starting lineup:

Sequeiral; Fonte, Goulart, Tchamba; Larrazabal, Perez, Roberto, Benaissa-Yahia; Nsona, Cassiano, Livolant

Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:

Silva; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Hjulmand, Morita; Catamo, Trincao, Goncalves; Harder

We say: Casa Pia 0-3 Sporting Lisbon

Casa Pia may have had an encouraging pre-season and a strong home record last term, but Sporting Lisbon are undeniably the superior side, as shown by winning all of the last seven meetings between the two teams. 

Sporting will also be eager to rebound from their Super Cup defeat with a commanding performance and victory, leading us to expect a significant away win on Friday.

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