Benfica come for this game with pressure and very motivated after 2 positive results, altough one of them was really strange. The first game was against Barcelona where they made a solid game defensively and drew 0-0 against Barcelona in Camp Nou against my expectations and they could have won the game, the striker Haris Seferovic in the last minute dribbled Ter Stegen and missed with the net empty. Then, the 2nd was against Belenenses SAD where they played against 9 players (2 goalkeepers) as Beleneneses SAD had almost the whole team infected with Covid and in that game they only played 45 minutes and Benfica were winning 7-0. In the last season they were the only team able to beat Sporting internally, was at home and Benfica won 4-3 in one of the best games of the last season. They have one important absence, Lucas Verissimo the centre-back and will be replaced by the captain and already 5x times champion for Benfica Andre Almeida. It will be the first game of Joao Mario since he left Sporting to join Benfica and it will motivate him a lot to make a good game as he will play at home and the supporters of Benfica will "protect" him and will be pushing him the whole game.

Probabe line-up: Odysseas Vlachodimos; Gilberto - Andre Almeida - Otamendi - Vertonghen - Grimaldo; Joao Mario - Weigl; Rafa - Everton and Darwin.

Sporting CP are doing so great this season, in terms of results they are doing better at the same time as they were in the last season. They bought an amazing coach by 13M Euros from Braga, Ruben Amorim and in his first season working on Sporting he got the title that was missing for 19 years. But unfortunately this week was the worst so far for Sporting, it started in the game against Tondela where the defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha got injured and left the pitch crying. He is for sure the pillar of the team and he covers almost the whole midfield alone. After the game, the centre-back and the MVP of Portuguese 1st League of 2020/2021 got infected with Covid, the captain Sebastian Coates. He is so important for the team, and in the first game that he missed this season Sporting lost 5-1 against Ajax at home, because he coordinates the whole team and they follow him. There was a lot of anxiety in the whole team as after they knew about the infection of Coates they all were waiting for their results and they only knew the results today (Thursday) and they tested negative, but even tho I don't think that they were focused in the trainings and I cannot think that Sporting will come for this game with the same physical indices as Benfica.

Probable line-up: Adan; Pedro Porro - Neto - Gonçalo Inacio - Feddal - Matheus Reis; Matheus Nunes - Daniel Bragança; Pedro Gonçalves - Sarabia and Paulinho.

In summary, Benfica pressured as they are with minus 1 point than Sporting and Porto will play with almost 30k supporters in the stadium, big must win against Sporting with 2 of the 3 best players out of the game. Sporting supporters won't go to the stadium protesting to the league.

本菲卡带着压力来到了这场比赛，在取得两场积极的成绩后，本菲卡非常有动力，尽管其中一场成绩真的很奇怪。第一场是对巴塞罗那的比赛，他们在诺坎普的防守很稳固，0-0逼平了巴塞罗那，出乎我的预料，他们本来可以赢的，前锋哈里斯·塞弗罗维奇在最后一分钟带球过了特尔斯特根，空门得手。第二场是对阵贝兰尼斯SAD，他们与9名球员(2名守门员)对抗，因为贝兰尼斯SAD几乎整个球队都感染了新冠病毒，在那场比赛中，他们只打了45分钟，本菲卡以7-0取胜。在上个赛季，他们是唯一一支能够在主场击败里斯本竞技队的球队，本菲卡4-3赢得了上个赛季最好的比赛之一。他们有一个重要的缺阵，中后卫卢卡斯·维里西莫，将由队长接替，已经5次获得本菲卡冠军的安德烈·阿尔梅达。这将是马里奥离开里斯本竞技队加盟本菲卡队后的第一场比赛，这将激励他打好比赛，因为他将在主场比赛，本菲卡队的支持者将“保护”他，并在整场比赛中推动他。

里斯本竞技队这个赛季做得很好，就成绩而言，他们比上个赛季做得更好。他们以1300万欧元的价格从布拉加买下了鲁本·阿莫里姆，在他为里斯本竞技效力的第一个赛季，他就获得了失去了19年的冠军。但不幸的是，这周是里斯本迄今为止最糟糕的一周，这始于对通德拉的比赛，防守中场帕尔欣哈受伤，哭着离开了球场。毫无疑问，他是球队的支柱，而且他几乎可以独自控制整个中场。赛后，葡萄牙第一联赛2020/2021赛季最有价值球员、中后卫塞巴斯蒂安·科茨感染了新冠肺炎。他对球队来说是如此重要，在本赛季他缺席的第一场比赛中，竞技队在主场5-1输给了阿贾克斯，因为他协调了整个球队，他们跟随他。整个团队都很焦虑，因为在他们知道科茨被感染后，他们都在等待结果，他们今天(周四)才知道结果，他们的检测结果是阴性的，但即使我不认为他们在训练中集中了精力，我也不认为里斯本竞技球员的状态会比对手更好。

总而言之，本菲卡压力很大，因为他们比里斯本竞技队落后1分。本场比赛有近3万名球迷在球场上比赛，里斯本在3名最佳球员中有2名缺席的情况下参赛。为了向联盟抗议，里斯本竞技的球迷不会入场观赛。