Sporting more than certainly did the job in the first two rounds of the League Cup, defeating Rio Ave and Farense with as many as 8 goals scored in total. Even without some players who played or are playing in the World Championship, Sporting showed primacy in relation to these teams. Paulinho stood out with 2 goals, but all players left a good impression. Maritimo, in complete contrast to their rivals, lost in both matches played. Without a scored goal and with 3 conceded, they probably nailed the last place in the group because against Sporting they can hardly hope for a good result. Despite the fact that Sporting's players have not yet returned from their absence due to the World Cup, Sporting is the absolute favorite in this match as well. This was best seen in the match they played in the first round of the cup when they demolished Farense 6-0. Farense plays in the second division of Portugal, but currently they are in the second place in the table, with a good chance of playing in the first division of Portugal again from next season. Although only a draw is enough for Sporting to secure passage to the next stage, they are simply not the kind of team that will play closed football. The players certainly want to finish the group stage with a maximum score of 9 points, especially when they play this match in front of their fans. I honestly believe that Sporting will attack the guests' goal from the first minute and I would not be surprised if they score two goals already in the first half.

Maritimo comes to this match with the desire to concede as few goals as possible, and the question is whether they will be able to achieve that. Just like the group in the cup, they don't play well in the championship either. They are in the penultimate place in the table, with only 8 goals scored and even 27 goals conceded after 13 rounds played. They lost both games in the cup, without scoring a goal, and the match against Farense, which I said was a competition in the second league, perhaps best shows the current strength of this team. Since they have already been relegated from the cup, I don't expect too much commitment from the guests and I believe that their coach will focus as much as possible on what awaits him in the continuation of the championship, which is a very difficult fight for survival. In addition to the obvious shortcomings that Maritimo shows, the game on away grounds is very worrying. In 7 matches played, they recorded 6 defeats and only one victory. They achieved that victory against the only team worse than them, last placed Pacos Ferreira. Playing in front of their fans and against what has been one of the worst teams in the Portuguese championship, I really believe that Sporting will start strong and quickly solve the question of the winner of this match.