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August 15, 2024

LIVE Nacional vs Sporting: Follow Today’s Portuguese League Match (August 17) with Lineups and Forecasts – Primeira Liga

Credit to Primeira Liga Image Gallery

The Primeira Liga will be exclusively broadcast in Brazil by the Disney Group. For top-flight English football, tune into ESPN channels via cable TV or stream the action on Star+ and Watch ESPN. Get ready for an exhilarating football season!

Today, August 17, 2024, Nacional will face Sporting Lisbon at the Estádio da Madeira in Funchal. The match will pit the newly promoted side against the reigning Primeira Liga champions.

After a three-year stint in the second division, Nacional has returned to top-tier Portuguese football and kicked off the season with a commendable 1-1 draw against AVS. However, facing Sporting Lisbon in their first home game of the season will pose a significantly more formidable challenge.

Sporting Lisbon comes into this fixture as the clear favorite, aiming to continue their perfect start to the season. Following a convincing win over Rio Ave in their opener, Ruben Amorim’s squad is focused on securing three points in Funchal to strengthen their position in the title race.

Historically, Nacional has struggled against Sporting, with the Lisbon giants winning all 20 previous encounters and securing five consecutive victories. Sporting’s recent trips to Madeira have also resulted in 1-0 and 2-0 wins, underscoring Nacional’s difficulty.

Nacional enters the match without new injury concerns and will likely field the same lineup as against AVS. However, the departure of top scorers Jesus Ramirez and Gustavo Silva, who returned from their loans, leaves a noticeable gap in their attack.

On the other hand, Sporting benefits from Pedro Gonçalves’ recent resurgence, having scored twice against Rio Ave. Viktor Gyokeres is also finding his footing, though he still aims to make a significant impact. Amorim may retain the same starting eleven, with Marcus Edwards and Francisco Trincão vying for attacking positions.

While Nacional is eager to make a mark in the Primeira Liga, Sporting Lisbon is favored to secure a victory. Given the head-to-head history and the strength of the visiting team, Sporting is expected to extend their unbeaten run with a comfortable 2-0 win.

This match offers Nacional a valuable chance to gauge their capabilities against one of Portugal’s top teams, while Sporting aims to reinforce their title defense.

Carvalhal: “There was no need for us to suffer as we did” | MAISFUTEBOL

Credit to Primeira Liga Image Gallery

Sporting Braga head coach Carlos Carvalhal praised Servette while also acknowledging that João Moutinho’s injury was a significant setback for the team and a “negative aspect of the match.”

In an interview with Next after Braga’s 2-1 win over Servette in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, Carvalhal stated:

“It was an extremely difficult game, not because the opponent had great quality, but because they displayed something very important in football today: a strong attitude. They were hurt from losing 6-0 in their last match in the Swiss league, and that was clearly noticeable as they carried that into the game with a lot of heart, which made it difficult for us in the first 15 minutes.”

We needed some time to find our rhythm, mainly due to Servette’s strong start and how they approached the game. Naturally, they couldn’t sustain that level of intensity for the entire match, and we eventually found our footing. We began controlling the ball better and moving it around more effectively, which led to us scoring a goal before halftime. Given the overall quality of the play, I believe the halftime score accurately represented the state of the game.

In the second half, we anticipated a strong response from them. We emphasized the importance of starting sharply in the first five to ten minutes, knowing they would be particularly aggressive. We managed that phase well, took control of the game, and scored to make it 2-0. After that, we shouldn’t have endured the stress we did; the goal they scored came from a slip by Niakaté, who otherwise had an excellent performance and just had a bit of bad luck. We faced some challenges but achieved our goal and now look ahead to the next match.

The most concerning issue from the match was João Moutinho’s injury. Unfortunately, these things occur, and we hope André Horta recovers quickly from his illness. Although he won’t be available for Sunday’s game, we have sufficient depth in the squad to compete effectively against Boavista. Our attention is now entirely on preparing for that upcoming Liga B fixture.