Find out who Sporting would face if the Champions League stayed as it is | OneFootball

Sporting remains firm in the fight for a place in the Champions League knockout stage, despite the 3-1 defeat suffered last Tuesday at the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich. The Lions even took the lead, thanks to an own goal by Joshua Kimmich early in the second half.

With only two rounds left to play, the team managed by Rui Borges has ten points – the same as Newcastle, Chelsea, and Barcelona. This record places the national champions in 14th place in the standings, in a competition where only the top eight advance directly to the round of 16. Teams ranked between 9th and 24th compete in the playoff, while the last 12 are out of European competitions.

Due to the structure of this new Champions League model, the 14th place faces the 19th or 20th. Thus, if the phase ended now, Sporting would face AS Monaco or Bayer Leverkusen to try to reach the round of 16. If they surpassed that stage, the Lions would then meet the third or fourth place – currently PSG and Manchester City, champions in two of the last three editions of the competition.

Last season, the last club to secure a playoff spot was Club Brugge, which scored 11 points, matching Manchester City and Sporting (both qualified) and surpassing Dinamo Zagreb, which was eliminated due to a worse goal difference. Thus, theoretically, the Lions would be one point away from advancing.

Sporting's next Champions League match is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 8:00 PM, against PSG, at the Estádio José Alvalade. After that match, only the trip to Athletic remains, scheduled for the 28th of the same month.

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