The Germans, meanwhile, come to this meeting with the
ability to put one foot in the next round but also with low Julian Draxler, one
of their key players, who did not travel to Lisbon for an injury to his right
thigh .
The debate marked the duel between three weeks ago
because of the thick refereeing errors -the referee gave a penalty against
Sporting in the discount and hands that were not and ended up giving the
victory to the premises, and even the people of Lisbon filed a formal complaint
to UEFA, who rejected it.
After five consecutive seasons without reaching the
continental showpiece, the "lions" hope to turn their situation and
help close the table with just one point.
The staff led by the young Portuguese coach Marco Silva
comes into this match under pressure after the harsh criticism last weekend
after suffering a painful 3-0 defeat at home Vitoria Guimaraes.
In this difficult context, the meeting comes Thursday against Schalke, in which the people of Lisbon will have the significant drop of the Brazilian Mauricio, head of central defense and was sent off in the last European match.
Presumably, his absence will force central field two
young Portuguese Paulo Oliveira (22 years) and French Naby Sarr (21) together.
Key in the first months of competition has been the backbone
of the team contribution, consisting of the three midfielders (William
Carvalho, Adrien and the young squad Joao Mario) and the end Nani, with the
full confidence of the coach and has regained its most dominating version.
However, the captain Benedikt Höwedes played down and
said nothing worth regretting downward Draxler, as the team has to cope with
the players he has available.
Schalke 04
,
Sporting Lisbon
,
UEFA Champions League
