After leading a series of vexations throughout 2017, Benfica has this Wednesday, January 3, a classic as an obstacle to open 2018 on the right foot. In the Luz stadium, in Lisbon, receives Sporting. The match is part of the schedule of the seventeenth round of the Portuguese Championship, the last of the first round. The start is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. (Brasília time).
Benfica’s recent performance

The great vexation in the first half of the 2017/2018 season was the campaign in the Champions League of Europe. Unable to add a point, Benfica were eliminated after six straight defeats with only one goal scored and 14 conceded in Group A, which had Manchester United (England) and Basel (Switzerland) qualified for the knockout stages and CSKA (Russia ) sent to the Europa League.
Although it was the one of greatest repercussion, it was not the only embarrassment of the beginning of season. Benfica also fell in the national cups. In the League Cup of Portugal, reached the last round of the group stage already eliminated. On Friday, December 29, he was held 2-2 by the away team against Vitória de Setúbal.
Benfica fell to the last 16 by drawing 2-2 in regular time away from home and losing 1-0 in the standings in the Portuguese Cup. Even Brazilian Jonas, one of the team’s highlights, had his image compromised. He lost a penalty shot in the normal time.
Current four-time Portuguese champion, the season can not be considered a total failure because the team remains in the fight to reach the pentacampeonato. He has 36 points (11 wins, three draws and one loss). They are three less than Porto and Sporting, who divide the lead.
For this performance, Luz’s stadium remains a very important weapon. Benfica have won all seven of their Portuguese league games in their stadium with 22 goals and only three. They just do not have the best home campaign because Porto, who played eight times in their dominions, reached 22 points (seven wins and a draw).

current form of Sporting

Alviverde’s campaign, which tries to break a fast of titles in the Portuguese Championship that lasts more than a decade, has been much more consistent than Benfica. Although he was eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League, managed to stay in the third place of his group and will have the opportunity to play the Europa League. No surprise in a group that had the giants Barcelona and Juventus.
The club led by coach Jorge Jesus is also in contention for the Portuguese Cup and the League Cup. At first, he will face the Cova de Piedade in the quarterfinals. In the second, already in the semifinals, will face the classic with Porto.
Playing away from home has not been a problem for Sporting. The team remains unbeaten and leader in this issue in the Portuguese Championship. He added 19 (six wins and one draw) of the 21 points he played in that condition with 17 goals scored and five conceded.

History of the matches
Sporting have not won the title four times. In the period there were two successes of Benfica and two equalities.

The Porto result, which plays earlier against Feirense, may even influence the team’s tactical posture for the match. However, even if the rival wins, Sporting will hardly leave in search of victory from the outset. He is more likely to prioritize the defense and wait for a possible despair of Benfica to exploit the counterattacks.
The great unknown is how the behavior of the team headed by coach Rui Vitória will be. In theory, he should launch himself in search of victory. However, under pressure from the poor results, the coach may well use conservatism to reduce the chances of a home defeat. Although the draw does not give him advantage in the short term, would serve to keep him in the title fight and with the advantage of having a calendar in the final stretch of the season much softer than the rivals.
Thus, the tie ends up being the best option for guess. It has a price of 3.40 in Rivalo. Victory of the owners of the house paid 2.10 and of the visitors yields 3.50 per invested real.