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

Bitter rivals Sporting Lisbon and Benfica get the Portuguese domestic season underway when they face off in the Super Cup on Thursday night.

Sporting are riding the crest of a wave at present after winning a league and cup double over their Lisbon rivals last season, even though they have lost their talismanic striker to the Premier League.

Match preview

It is just over two months since Sporting snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the final of the Taca de Portugal against Benfica.

Viktor Gyokeres’s 100th-minute penalty forced extra time, cancelling out Orkun Kokcu’s opener, before Rui Borges won 3-1 in the additional period, recovering from a mid-season wobble to claim the double.

Ruben Amorim’s departure to Manchester United in the November of last season led to a rapid drop in results and performances levels, but after a couple of managerial changes, Borges eventually led the club to the title too, beating Guimaraes on the final day to clinch it.

It is only a week until the new season starts up again, with Sporting facing Casa Pia on the opening weekend, but they will be without top scorer Gyokeres, who told the club earlier in the summer he would not be reporting for pre-season training and has now moved to Arsenal.

Life without the Swede starts here with the Super Cup, but it is a fixture that has not brought much joy to Sporting recently, as they lost 4-3 to Porto last year, despite leading 3-0 early on.

The Lions have only won it once in a decade, beating Braga in the 2021 edition, but they will be fancied here, considering they have not lost any of their previous seven matches with Benfica.

Bruno Lage’s men have had a busy summer already, competing in the Club World Cup back in June, putting in a decent account of themselves, topping a group with Bayern Munich, before falling short against eventual winners Chelsea.

This will mark the start of Benfica’s domestic campaign, but they will not play their first league match until August 17 away to Estrela, as they have been granted time off in order to focus fully on their Champions League qualifiers.

Benfica will face a tricky test against Nice in the third round, with the winner then progressing into the playoffs, so two tough rounds of qualifying await Lage’s side if they want to make into the league phase again this season.

After playing in the Club World Cup in America, Benfica’s preseason has been much shorter, with just one friendly to prepare themselves, and that was against Fenerbahce on Saturday, which ended in a 3-2 win.

Team News

Sporting will need to find other sources for goals with Gyokeres gone, but even though they have known about his intent to leave for some time, they have not yet spent much in the transfer market for a replacement.

Dario Essugo has also left for Chelsea, and Geovany Quenda will follow him in 2026, and even though he is sticking around for this season, there is a huge hole in the number nine position that Borges will hope Francisco Trincao can fill for the time being.

Elsewhere, Nuno Santos and Daniel Braganca will remain sidelined for the Lions here, following injuries that they sustained last season.

In comparison, Benfica have been busy, spending the money brought in by Alvaro Carreras’s transfer to Real Madrid, as well as seeking a replacement for Angel Di Maria.

Amar Dedic, Samuel Dahl, Enzo Barrenechea and Richard Rios have all been brought in at the Estadio da Luz this summer, as Benfica look to wrestle back supremacy from Sporting, and winning the Super Cup would be a good start.

Lage is without two important defenders though, because Alexander Bah and Tomas Araujo are still recovering from injuries that saw them miss the Club World Cup.

Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:

Rui Silva; Debast, Diomande, Goncalo Inacio; Catamo, Hjulmand, Morita, Araujo; Quenda, Trincao, Pedro Goncalves

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Dedic, Antonio Silva, Otamendi, Dahl; Florentino Luis, Rios, Barrenechea; Schjelderup, Pavlidis, Akturkoglu

We say: Sporting Lisbon 1-2 Benfica

Sporting may have ruled Portuguese football last season, but without Gyokeres, it is unclear where a large portion of their goals are going to come from.

Benfica have lost some key players all over the pitch, but they still look strong, as their voyage in the Club World Cup showed, and this could be the start of a promising season for them.

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