Sporting Lisbon vs Real Madrid. UEFA Champions League Group F.
Estadio Jose AlvaladeAttendance50,046.
Tuesday 14 April 2020 09:15, UK
Real Madrid can clinch qualification for the Champions League last 16 if they avoid defeat away to Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.
With two wins and two draws in their opening four games, Real sit second in Group F, two points behind Borussia Dortmund, who have already qualified.
However, boss Zinedine Zidane will not be focusing on the points tally and their final position in the group, but solely on the game in Lisbon.
"I don't think about the maths. When you're at Real Madrid you just focus on doing everything to win the games and on nothing else," he said before the match.
"There'll be time to look at the table later on. Tomorrow, we'll be doing everything to win. We shall not be doing any maths".
The gap between Real and third-placed Sporting is five points, and the Portuguese side know it's win or bust when the two sides meet at the Jose Alvalade Stadium.
Team news
Zidane remained coy on the chances of Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema starting on Tuesday, with the duo appearing on the bench for the Madrid derby over the weekend.
Benzema made an 11-minute substitute appearance on Saturday, but Toni Kroos (foot), Alvaro Morata (hamstring) and Casemiro (leg) remain sidelined.
Cristiano Ronaldo will also be making a return to the club where he learnt his trade as a youth player, and also made 25 appearances for the first team before moving to Manchester United in 2003.
Sporting will be near full strength for the visit of Real , with only Lithuanian forward Lukas Spalvis missing out through injury.
Opta stats
Real have won none of their two previous visits to Sporting in European competition, losing 2-1 in the 1994/95 Uefa Cup and drawing 2-2 in the 2000/01 Champions League group stages.
Real have never failed to score against Portuguese opposition, in all competitions (20 games). In their encounter with Sporting in September (2-1), Real scored their two goals in the 89th and 94th minute.
None of Sporting's last 10 home games in the Champions League has ended in a draw (W6 L4).
Meanwhile, Real have won none of their last four away games in the Champions League (D3 L1), their longest drought on the road since their winless run of six matches from December 2006 to February 2008.
Real's two away games in this season's Champions League have produced 10 goals (2-2 v Borussia Dortmund, 3-3 v Legia Warsaw).
Real Madrid have failed to score only once in their last 48 Champions League group games (PSG 0-0 Real, October 2015).
Only Barcelona have scored more goals (14) than Real Madrid (12) in this season's Champions League.
However, Real have already conceded more goals in the Champions League this season (seven in four games) than over the whole of last season (six in 13 games).
Real have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League in each of their previous 20 campaigns, whilst Sporting have made it out of the group phase only once in their previous six campaigns (2008/09).
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in each of his three Champions League appearances against his ex-team Sporting (2007/08 group stages with Manchester United, 2016/17 group stages with Real).
Karim Benzema is the only player, alongside Lionel Messi, to have scored in each of the last 12 Champions League campaigns.
