Sporting return to San Paolo after 36 years | OneFootball

September 27, 1989—it's been more than 36 years since Sporting’s first, and so far only, visit to the San Paolo, now renamed the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, in Naples.

On that day, the second leg of the first round of the UEFA Cup was being played, after a goalless draw in the first leg at Alvalade. The match would again end in a 0-0 draw, and the Neapolitans would go through after winning 4-3 on penalties.

That penalty shootout became legendary due to a bet between Sporting’s then goalkeeper, the Yugoslav Tomislav Ivkovic, and the world star Diego Maradona, with the Lions’ keeper coming out on top by saving the Argentine magician’s shot. Afterwards, Maradona gave him his shirt and paid him the $100 they had bet before the penalty was taken.

It’s worth recalling that, a few months later, during the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the two players faced each other again in a Yugoslavia vs. Argentina quarter-final match, which also ended 0-0 and was again decided by penalties. Tomislav Ivkovic once more saved Maradona’s penalty but... lost again to the Argentine, who would go on to reach the final, only to lose to Germany.

Napoli is the Favorite

But let’s get to the match between the current Italian champion and the current Portuguese champion, two clubs that spent many years away from major trophies, but who, in recent years, have found success domestically and now meet again in European competitions.

Let’s be direct: Napoli is the favorite in this rematch according to the bookmakers. And to be impartial, there’s nothing like looking at the international markets. According to the bookmaker Bet7, for example, an Italian win pays around 1.85, compared to 4.50 for the Lions. The difference is significant.

In fact, Italian football is usually not very kind to the Lions, who rarely achieve good results against these clubs, especially when the matches are played in Italy. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that this Sporting side is also different, and has regained much of its aura in recent years since becoming national champions again. This duel promises to be very interesting to gauge the true value of the Lions’ squad.

Both teams started the Champions League with different fortunes: while Napoli lost away to Manchester City, Sporting beat Kairat at Alvalade. These two teams have shown attacking prowess and some defensive solidity, so we can expect a game, in theory, with few goals if both sides continue to show defensive strength, despite the good attacking numbers—especially from the Lions, who, up to this round, had an average of 3 goals per match.

Two Teams with Common Points

On one side, we have Napoli, who lost this weekend for the first time this Serie A season, against AC Milan, and now have company at the top of the Italian league table. On the other side, Sporting, who are currently, provisionally, leading the Portuguese league and waiting for the outcome of FC Porto’s match against Arouca.

For this season, Napoli kept most of last season’s squad and strengthened with the star Kevin De Bruyne and the return of Elif Elmas. Deprived of one of their stars, Romelu Lukaku, due to injury, the Neapolitans signed Rasmus Højlund for their attack.

Sporting, for their part, lost their top scorer of the last two seasons, Viktor Gyökeres, and with the season already underway, also saw Conrad Harder leave. They signed Luis Suárez and Fotis Ioannidis to replace them, but the main novelty and the big change for the Lions this season is actually abandoning the three-center-back system that had been implemented by Ruben Amorim over the past few seasons.

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