Consecutive defeats in this festival to finish 2024 have seen sports fall down the table, while Leipzig is based on the bottom, with six defeats out of six.
An already gloomy result reached a new minimum on the weekend for the Leipzig in Marco Rose, which wasted a 3-0 advantage to tie with the last of the Bochum table in the Bundesliga.
Without Benjamin Sesko and Openda Laws after their red boxes defeat in Stuttgart, Rose will have been extremely happy to see his men exploiting Bochum in the first forty-five minutes, until a hat-trick from Myron Boadu brings the hosts at the level, and despite everything noted that Leipzig leaves the four most sensible.
Their two-star forwards will return here, however, even with their quality, RB have not gone to a single point in the Champions League so far, and any further defeat here will see them equal the record for maximum consecutive UCL losses to through a German club: most recently it was through Bayer Leverkusen (seven in 2002-03).
Leipzig is the only one at the end of the classification and has no points, because young people in Switzerland difficulty and the beginners of Slovan Bratislava also did not abandon the logo.
It will be a complicated control for a team that has not had hope on the continent, but with the Sturm Graz on the eighth day, Leipzig will feel greatly disappointed if the crusade ends even with a point.
Die Roten Bullen’s clashes with Portuguese clubs have often gone quite well, suffering just one defeat in four meetings, against Porto back in 2017.
Sporting had a very enjoyable evening the last time they visited Germany in the Champions League, though, sweeping Eintracht Frankfurt aside 3-0, but they must regain some consistency if they are to enjoy any repeat here.
Form has fallen off a cliff since Ruben Amorim left for Manchester United, with his replacement Joao Pereira already sacked.
Under Pereira, Sporting lost 5-1 at home to Arsenal, and away to Club Brugge on matchday six, after Amorim had taken 10 points from a possible 12 before his departure.
That leaves the Lions on the brink of their longest losing run in this competition in almost a decade, but the positive is that results have picked up since Rui Borges was given the job just after Christmas.
Pereira suffered four straight defeats, including at home to Santa Clara, and away at Moreirense, and was then sacked on December 25, with Borges coming in and recording home wins over both Porto and Benfica.
However, the new coach has already suffered a major disappointment in his brief tenure, losing the Taca da Liga final to Benfica earlier this month. Three things are clear at the top of La Liga de Primeira.
Attention now turns to the Champions League, and it is very likely that one more point will be mandatory for Sporting to be confident of a playoff position, while two wins would give them an outside chance of qualifying in the top eight, with Bologna with Bologna. At home to arrive on the eighth day.
Leipzig are set to be without injured trio Xaver Schlager, Castello Lukeba and Andre Silva until February at the earliest, but West Ham are believed to have enquired about the latter over a potential move this month.
Yussuf Poulsen has returned after two months off, injured over the weekend, but most likely he will be on the bench, with Sesko and OpenDA recovered after a sanction.
Benjamin Henrichs will miss the rest of the season with a serious leg injury, so new signing Ridle Baku has stepped in and started the last two games at right wing-back in his place.
Pedro Goncalves is expected to be Sporting’s biggest failure after participating in education ahead of this match.
The defensive trio Eduardo Quaresma, Nuno Santos and Matheus Reis can register in Goncalves on the margin, with the 3 also absent from the training, but Viktor Gyokeres is expected to return to the beginning XI after scoring the weekend, obtaining a 6th objective, A sixth objective. In 4 games.
Sporting have already entered the transfer market this month too, signing Real Betis keeper Rui Silva on loan for the rest of the season, and he has instantly taken the place of Franco Israel, on his return to Portugal after eight years in Spain.
Possible alignment of the RB Leipzig: Gulacsi; Geertruida, Orban, Klostermann; Baku, Vermeeren, Seiwald, Raum; Simons, OpenDA, Sesko
Possible 11 of Lisbon Sporting: Rui Silva; Fresneda, Diomandé, St Just, Quenda; Catamo, Morita, Hjulmand; Trincão, Gyokeres, Araujo
Entertainment is often assured when Leipzig are involved, but none of that has gone in their favour in this Champions League campaign so far.
A few weeks ago, Sporting were wasting every time and every time they took the field, however, the effects have taken a step forward and they will make sure to return to the continent in form here to secure their position in the knockout stages. To see the maximum likely effects, scores, and more knowledge research for this match, click here.