Sporting Lisbon v MAN CITY: The PREVIEW – City’s Probable Team

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A slight distraction from our domestic endeavours arrives in the form of Sporting Lisbon and the continuation of our European adventure. Down to the last sixteen of the Europa League, this competition moves our focus away from attempting to win the Premier League title towards hope of success in lifting another trophy.

The first leg of this tie sees the Blues travel to Portugal to face a Sporting Lisbon side who currently lie in fourth place in their domestic league, fourteen points behind Porto, the team who City so convincingly brushed aside in the last round. They are, however, extremely experienced in European competitions and will be desperate to cause an upset.

With regards to team news, Roberto Mancini has virtually a fully fit squad to select from, though sunday’s crucial trip to Swansea will be uppermost in his mind and may well determine to starting eleven. Pablo Zabaleta picked up an injury against Bolton and will be sidelined for a couple of weeks, whilst Micah Richards is available again following his recovery but Kolo Touré may be given another opportunity at rightback if Mancini decides to play safe with Richards.

Yaya Touré is suspended following his booking against Porto, but Nigel De Jong can expect to return, whilst James Milner is also pushing for a starting place. Edin Dzeko hasn’t been named in the team for the past five fixtures so will be eager to be given a chance, as will Sergio Aguero and David Silva, who were both on the bench for the visit of Bolton.

Here is the side Mancini could select:

Sporting, as touched on above, have struggled domestically this season, but having won three of their past four matches in the league, have started to find their form again. They do possess a number of first class players, notably Diego Capel who joined from Sevilla at the start of this campaign and has settled in well to Portuguese football. In defence, they feature former Liverpool defender Emiliano Insúa and Oguchi Onyewu, a centre-back who had a spell on loan at Newcastle in 2007.

Referee: Carlos Velasco Carballo – He’s a 40 year old Spaniard, who has officiated a number of Champions League and Europa League matches over the past couple of seasons. He was the referee for the final of the competition last season and was in charge for Chelsea’s recent match away at Napoli.

Prediction: Sporting Lisbon 1 – 2 MAN CITY – It’s tough to predict as I feel much of this depends on Mancini’s team selection. Should he pick a full-strength side, I’d expect us to secure victory, but Sporting do have the potential to cause us problems. Goals to be scored by Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko.

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