Maxi Araújo brings good news ahead of Sporting v Kairat | OneFootball

Good news for Maxi Araújo: the player is expected to return to the starting lineup for Sporting - Kairat, after having been sidelined due to injury and having played a few minutes against Famalicão. On the flip side, Ricardo Mangas will be returning to the bench.

Even though he only played a few minutes in the fifth round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, the Uruguayan international has already been authorized to get more playing time, something that is expected to happen in the lions' debut in the Champions League, especially given the coach's goal of managing the squad during a tight schedule.

Despite Hidemasa Morita's return to training and the call-up list, Rui Borges is likely to opt to keep Morten Hjulmand and Giorgi Kochorashvili in the starting lineup, as the Japanese player will need to gradually integrate into the Sporting team, to avoid taking unnecessary risks with injuries.

Sporting is set to take the field again on Thursday, September 18, against Kairat Almaty. The match against the team led by Rafael Urazbakhtin, valid for the first round of the Champions League, will be played at José Alvalade Stadium and is scheduled to kick off at 20:00.

In the league phase of the millionaire competition, remember, Sporting will face not only Kairat, but also Napoli (on October 1, at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium), Marseille (on October 22, at Alvalade), Juventus (on November 4, at Juventus Stadium), Club Brugge (on November 26, at Alvalade), Bayern Munich (on December 9, at Allianz Arena), PSG (on January 20, at Alvalade) and, finally, Athletic Bilbao (on January 28, at San Mamés).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.