Preview:Sporting Lisbon vs Kairat - prediction, team news, lineups

After making the knockout rounds last season, Sporting Lisbon will kick off a new Champions League campaign on Thursday, when they welcome Kairat to Estadio Alvalade.

While Sporting booked their place by winning the Portuguese double, Kairat claimed top spot in Kazakhstan before surviving an epic journey through qualifying.

Match preview

Despite the mid-season departure of Ruben Amorim, Sporting recovered from a subsequent dip to win consecutive league titles for the first time since 1954.

Beating Benfica to first place set the stage for a grudge match between two city rivals in the Taca de Portugal final, which Sporting then won in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Their Champions League campaign - which featured a famous 4-1 win over Manchester City, just before Amorim left - was halted in the knockout round playoffs by Borussia Dortmund, but it was still a year to remember.

Now in his first full season as Sporting boss, Rui Borges has fairly started well, with four wins from five in the Primeira Liga - including Saturday's 2-1 victory over Famalicao.

The Lions have failed their toughest tests, though, losing to Benfica in the Supertaca and being beaten 2-1 by Porto just before the international break.

As their Champions League fixture list will pit them against Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Napoli - among others - they cannot afford to drop points at home to a side ranked 266th in Europe by UEFA.

With a top-eight finish highly unlikely, Borges will be targeting the playoffs, so beating Kairat is surely essential.

Just the second team from Kazakhstan to feature in the Champions League proper - after Astana 10 years ago - Kairat have made history by even getting this far.

Indeed, the club's only previous participation in any European group phase was in the 2021-22 Conference League, where they limped out with a tally of two points from six games.

Last term, four straight wins to end the league season sealed first place on the final day, as Rafael Urazbakhtin's team edged out Astana - but a long road still separated them from Champions League qualification.

Undefeated on home turf from round one to the playoffs, Kairat kept four clean sheets in their final five matches of qualifying, which culminated in a memorable night at Almaty's Central Stadium.

Eliminating former European champions Celtic, they held out for a 0-0 aggregate draw despite having less than one-third of the ball, before winning a tense tie 3-2 on penalties.

Urazbakhtin - who took them to their fourth domestic title - will now have the honour of leading his side out against the likes of multiple Champions League winners Real Madrid and Inter Milan during the league phase.

While they are back on top of the Kazakh Premier League, leading by two points after 22 matches, Kairat have won just three of their last 16 European fixtures, failing to even score in half. So, stopping Sporting in Lisbon represents a huge task.

Sporting Lisbon form (all competitions):

L W W W L W

Kairat Champions League form:

L W W L D D

Kairat form (all competitions):

L L D D W W

Team News

Borges - who has switched from Amorim's three-man defence to a back four - could be without a key component in Sporting's rearguard this week, as Ousmane Diomande is still struggling with a muscular problem.

If ruled out, the Ivorian centre-back would join Nuno Santos, Daniel Braganca, Hidemasa Morita and Geny Catamo in a packed treatment room - goalkeeper Rui Silva is also a doubt.

Stepping into the boots of Viktor Gyokeres, striker Luis Suarez scored four times for Colombia during the recent international window, having topped Spain's Segunda Division goal charts last term. Chelsea-bound Geovany Quenda and Portugal pair Pote Goncalves and Francisco Trinacao should support him up front.

Meanwhile, Kairat's injury list includes goalkeepers Aleksandr Zarutskiy and Temirlan Anarbekov, while Georgian forward Giorgi Zaria may also miss out.

Dastan Satpaev, already a full international at the age of 17, is available, and the Kazakh striker, who scored three times in qualifying, will follow Quenda to Stamford Bridge next summer.

Two decades Satpaev's senior, captain Alyaksandr Martynovich is set to marshal the visitors' defence.

Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:

Virginia; Fresneda, Inacio, Debast, Mangas; Hjulmand, Kochorashvili; Quenda, Trincao, Goncalves; Suarez

Kairat possible starting lineup:

Kalmurza; Tapalov, Martynovich, Sorokin, Mata; Arad, Glazer; Gromyko, Jorginho, Satpayev; Edmilson