Sporting CP welcomes Istanbul Basaksehir at the Estadio Jose Alvalade

Sporting CP welcomes Istanbul Basaksehir at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in a first leg from the 1/16-finals of Europa League. Let us take a look at this fixture in our Europa League predictions for today.

Sporting finished second in their Europa League group, surprisingly losing the first place to the Polish team LASK. The Lisboa Lions suffered two losses in the group, being beaten by LASK and PSV. But they also achieved four victories, which allowed them to progress towards the 1/16-finals.

Sporting will aproach this game on Thursday after a dissapointing result during the weekend. Emanuel Ferro’s team lost two points during the 1-1 draw with Rio Ave in the Primeira Liga. Jovane Cabral equalised for Sporting just six minutes before the end. Right now the Lisboa Lions are 4th in the standings with 36 points, being 18 points behind the leader Benfica.

Istanbul Basaksehir made a great performance in Europa League’s group stage. They won a very difficult group with teams like Roma and Borussia M’gladbach in it, winning three of their games. Now the Turkish side is hungry for more, being confident that they can do well against strong European sides.

Istanbul Basaksehir made a pretty good performance at the end of the previous week when they won the derby against Besiktas in the Turkish Super Lig. Chelsea’s former striker Demba Ba scored the only goal in the game after an assist from Edin Visca. Basaksehir are currently second in the standings, being just one point behind the leader Trabzonspor.

These are our Europa League predictions for the 1/16-finals game between Sporting CP and Istanbul Basaksehir. Maybe the Portuguese side will have some advantage playing at home, but the Turkish team has some tools to hurt them, that’s for sure. It’s going to be a good match.