Sporting CP and AS Monaco will face each other on Saturday, July 25, in one of the most interesting friendly matches of this weekend. The match will take place at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon, and the first whistle is scheduled for 20:30 Polish time. Both teams are preparing for the new season, although each of them is at a different stage of building their form.

Sporting has already had two very successful friendly matches, while Monaco has only just started summer preparations. For both coaches, it will be a valuable opportunity to test new tactical solutions and players fighting for a place in the starting lineup.

Sporting CP impresses with its effectiveness in summer sparring

The team from Lisbon started the preparation period very well. In the two previous control matches, Sporting defeated Celtic 4:1 and Strasbourg 7:0. In total, the Portuguese club scored eleven goals and conceded only one, which shows high offensive effectiveness and good organization of the game.

The previous season ended with Sporting taking second place in the Portuguese league. The team collected 82 points and fought for the championship for a long time, but ultimately had to accept the superiority of FC Porto. They were also close to winning the Portuguese Cup, but the final ended in defeat against Torreense after extra time.

During the summer, the club underwent several personnel changes. One of the most important transfers was the acquisition of central defender Ibrahima Ba from Famalicão. The coaching staff is also gradually introducing players who received additional rest time after the World Championships.

Monaco is starting to rebuild after a difficult season

Monaco has had a much more demanding season. After two years of podium finishes in Ligue 1, this time the club was only in seventh place. This result only ensured promotion to the Europa Conference League.

The team performed much better in the Champions League, where it reached the play-off phase to advance to the 1/8 finals. Ultimately, his path was ended by Paris Saint-Germain.

There were several changes in the summer transfer window. Caio Henrique and Kassoum Ouattara left the club, and Nazinho took their place on the left side of defense. Ansu Fati and central defender Sadibou Sané also joined the team.

Monaco’s first sparring ended with a 5-2 victory over Saint-Priest. However, the match against Sporting will be a much more serious test.

Both teams meet once again

Sporting and Monaco have only competed in friendly matches in recent years. In 2017, the Portuguese club won 2:1, while a year earlier the French were better, winning 4:1.

The two teams also faced each other in the group stage of the Champions League in 1997. Then each team took advantage of the advantage of their home field, which shows that their direct duels have been providing a lot of excitement for years.

Personnel problems before sparring

Sporting is still waiting for the full return of all representatives from the World Cup. Rui Silva, Gonçalo Inácio, Ousmane Diomande and Luis Suárez all missed the earlier friendlies, while Maximiliano Araújo only received limited minutes. Their performance against Monaco remains unknown.

Monaco will also be without several important players. In the previous match, Maghnes Akliouche, Denis Zakaria, Folarin Balogun, Takumi Minamino and Stanis Idumbo were missing. Everything indicates that they will also be out of the match squad this time.

Predicted lineups for the Sporting CP – AS Monaco match

• Sporting CP: João Virgínia – Ricardo Mangas, Eduardo Quaresma, Georgios Vagiannidis, Maximiliano Araújo – Sergi Altimira, Silas Andersen, Issa Doumbia – Geny Catamo, Fotis Ioannidis, Rafael Nel.
• AS Monaco: Lukas Hradecki – Nazinho, Thilo Kehrer, Eric Dier, Christian Mawissa – Mamadou Coulibaly, Pape Cabral, Aladji Bamba – Alexander Gołowin, Mika Biereth, Mathys Detourbet.

Sporting wants to confirm their high form before the season

The team from Lisbon proved in the first friendly matches that, despite personnel turnover, they can play very effective football. However, the match against Monaco will be a much more demanding test than the previous matches against Celtic and Strasbourg.

The French club will treat this match as an important element of preparations for the new season and an opportunity to recruit new players. For both coaches, the result will be less important than the opportunity to check various tactical variants and assess the players’ form before the start of the official competition.