Nacional vs Sporting Lisbon Prediction and Betting Tips

Nacional vs Sporting Lisbon Prediction and Betting Tips | August 17th 2024

Modified Aug 15, 2024 22:13 GMT

Sporting CP v Rio Ave FC - Liga Portugal Betclic - Source: Getty — Sporting Lisbon face Nacional on Saturday.

Nacional welcome Sporting Lisbon to Estadio da Madeira for a Primeira Liga matchday two fixture on Saturday. The home side are coming into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw in their curtain-raiser last weekend.

They took the lead through Miguel Baeza's 35th-minute strike while John Mercado drew the game level in the 56th minute.

Sporting, meanwhile, claimed maximum points with a 3-1 home win over Rio Ave. Pedro Goncalves put the defending champions on their way to victory with a first-half brace while Viktor Gyokeres made sure of the result in the 63rd minute. Clayton scored a late consolation strike in the 90th minute.

The win took them to third spot in the table after one game while Nacional are ninth.

Nacional vs Sporting Lisbon Head-to-Head and Key Numbers

Sporting Lisbon have 24 wins from the last 40 head-to-head games. Nacional were victorious four times while 12 games were drawn.
This will be their first clash since May 2021 when Sporting claimed a routine 2-0 home victory en route to winning the league.
Sporting have won the last five head-to-head games on the bounce.
Nacional have returned to the Primeira Liga after three seasons away.
Sporting's last six league games have produced three goals or more.
Sporting have kept a clean sheet in nine of the last 10 head-to-head games.

Nacional vs Sporting Lisbon Prediction

Nacional returned to the top flight following their second-place finish in the Liga Portugal 2 last season. They won their final five games of the season to wrap up a 13-game unbeaten run (nine wins) and followed this up with a draw in their first top-flight game in three years.

Sporting are the defending champions and Ruben Amorim's side laid down their marker with a comfortable victory in the opening game of their title defense. More of the same will be expected from the capital side as they aim to win consecutive league crowns for the first time since a four-peat between 1951 and 1954.

Nacional have not won a head-to-head game since 2011 and chances of ending this run appear slim. We are backing the visitors to claim a multi-goal victory with goals at both ends.

Prediction: Nacional 1-3 Sporting Lisbon