Sporting and Benfica compete today in the 2024/25 Football League Cup, in a final that offers the centuries-old Lisbon classic, a game of passions scheduled for the Estádio Municipal Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, in Leiria (19:45).
Since its creation, this will be the third final in the competition between the two rivals, with Benfica winning in 2008/09 (1-1, 3-2 on penalties), and Sporting in 2021/22, in what was their last victory in the competition.
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In total, the ‘eagles’, who have not won the trophy for eight seasons, since 2016, have won the League Cup seven times and are record holders, while the ‘lions’ are the second team with the most trophies in the competition, with four.
Benfica reached the final after beating Sporting de Braga (3-0), with a ‘double’ from Di Maria and a goal from Álvaro Carreras, and Sporting after beating the also ‘great’ FC Porto (1-0), in a game in which Viktor Gyökeres gave the ‘lions’ victory.
In a few days it will be the second classic of the season, after the ‘reds’ lost at the end of the year in the championship, at the José Alvalade Stadium, 1-0.
In tonight’s classic, Sporting has some casualties, as it remains without Nuno Santos or Pedro Gonçalves, and will also be without Matheus Reis and Morita, casualties already this week, while on Benfica’s side, Tiago Gouveia remains the only one unavailable.
The game starts at 7:45 pm, will be refereed by João Pinheiro, from the Braga Football Association, and will obviously be reported on Renaissance Radio.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
