Atalanta vs Sporting Lisbon Prediction & Betting Tips - Europa League

Prediction published on 14/03/2024, 07:51  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 14/03/2024 at 08:15 in Europa League Predictions

Atalanta will play host to Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie in the Europa League on Thursday night. The sides will enter this contest level following a 1-1 draw in Lisbon last week. After an opening goal from Paulinho, Atalanta salvaged an away draw thanks to a Gianluca Scamacca goal later in the first half. La Dea come into this match in the midst of a grueling run of fixtures, which included playing each of the top four in the Serie A in succession either side of last week’s trip to Portugal. Unfortunately, the Italians were unable to win any of those matches and last tasted victory in mid-February against Sassuolo. Still, they are well in this contest, having put up excellent performances against AC Milan and Juventus recently, holding both to draws. At home, the hosts have only lost one of their last ten games while winning eight and drawing the other. They are also unbeaten in their last three matches against this opponent and are the favourites at the books in this one. 

Meanwhile, Sporting Lisbon’s only loss in the group stages of this competition came against this opponent and they will see this as the perfect opportunity to get their revenge. However, that will not be an easy feat, as the Lions struggled to dominate the match at Estadio Jose Alvalade last week despite taking an early lead. Nevertheless, they did look back to their best over the weekend when they beat Arouca 3-0 on the road, which was a result that extended their current unbeaten run to 11 matches in all competitions dating back to the Taca da Liga final against Braga in January. Sporting’s major strength this season has been their attack. They have already netted 69 goals in 24 league games this term, including two or more in each of their last 11 games. The visitors will need to come flying out the blocks in search of an early goal here, or the contest will likely begin to lean in favour of the hosts the longer it remains goalless.