Atletico also come here with a two goal lead, but 2-0 is a much better scoreline and an away goal will seal the deal. But they ran riot in Moscow despite arriving there to play Lokomotiv with a 3-0 lead and can be devastating when teams overcommit against them and they also scored four in Copenhagen against FCK. They have thrown the defensive shackles off far more often this season, perhaps too often early in the campaign, but now seem to have found a good balance. Portugese teams always treat this competition seriously, but as a group they seem to have gone backwards, the other three Big 4 have all underperformed in Europe to one degree or another and each suffered at least one frightful hammering. Sporting have fared better and were in a tough Champions League group, but have come up short against the better teams, are clearly only third best domestically and are struggling to hold off Braga in that race.

They have played a lot of football by Portugese standards (this will be their 53rd start/ 14th in Europe) and they are starting to look weary, needing extra time to beat Plzen in the last round, losing to Braga and Porto all in the last six weeks . In Madrid they made 4-5 truly horrendous defensive errors, I am talking as bad as you will see, two cost them goals , Atletico scored very early and could (seriously) have been 3-0 up inside two and a half minutes and only the visiting keeper kept his side in it. They have talent, but looked mentally shot defensively and I think some players are running on empty. Madrid let Sporting have plenty of the ball and I am certain they will do so again and the home side will have to gamble and that is going to leave space and suspect defenders exposed and Atletico could run riot, especially if they score first. Sporting have a league game at the weekend and a League Cup second leg semi final with Porto next midweek, when they are looking to overturn a one goal loss in the first leg and thoughts could quickly turn to those , if they fall behind.
 

There have been reports of the club President falling out with a number of players which is very far from ideal and team news hardly helps the host, they have both top scorer Bas Dost (31 goals this season) and left back Fabio Coentrao suspended, defensive midfielder William Carvalho is out injured and right back Cristiano Piccini is a major doubt according to head coach Jorge Jesus (pictured). Four key players and a team gambling could be weaker defensively on both flanks and in terms of protection through the middle and without their main striker, who are looking mentally suspect and tired, with internal issues, playing one of Europe's best teams ! This could be a long 90 minutes for Sporting.