Champions League Betting – Sporting Lisbon vs. Chelsea

Chelsea (-137) vs. Sporting Lisbon (+400) (Draw +275)

Sporting Clube de Portugal  – a.k.a. “Sporting Lisbon” – will visit Stamford Bridge tomorrow to face Chelsea in Matchday Six of the Champions League (2:45 p.m. Eastern).

Chelsea is the favorite to win, listed at -137 in the moneyline; Lisbon is +400 and the draw +275.

Chelsea has already secured first place in Group C with 11 points through five games. However, Sporting Lisbon and Schalke 04 are still in a battle for the second spot and a place in the Round of 16.

Right now, Lisbon is in second with seven points (2W, 1D, 1L) and a +2 goal differential. Schalke is third with five points (1W, 2D, 2L) and -6 in the differential. If Schalke lose or draw against Maribor, Lisbon will advance no matter what.  However, if Schalke beat Maribor, Lisbon will need at least a draw in order to advance.

Chelsea arrives at this game after their first loss in the season – in either the Champions League or BPL. Last Saturday, Newcastle triumphed 2-1 in over Chelsea in a BPL match, ending Chelsea’s impressive run of 19 straight competitive matches without a loss.

Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, was not displeased with his team’s performance in the loss.

“[I have] no complaints. [We were] unlucky, we had lots of chances to score in the first [half but] we didn’t [take them],” said Mourinho. “We didn’t deserve this, but it is the result we had, we have to accept it and move on.”

On the other side, Sporting Lisbon won its last match (3-1) in the Portuguese Premeira Liga against Boa Vista. Lisbon also won its last game in the Champions League (3-1) against Maribor. Despite the decisive victory, coach Marco Silva was critical of his team’s second half performance.

“Our focus is on the Champions League and we want to go through to the last 16. Today only a victory mattered, and we got that victory, justifiably. We did not start the second half well because we had had the game under control and conceded a childish goal near the interval, which allowed our opponents to regain confidence. We cannot keep making mistakes like that,” said Silva after the win against Maribor.

Chelsea have won their last seven fixtures against Portuguese clubs, all by a single-goal margin. In contrast, Lisbon has lost three of its last four against BPL teams (earning a draw in the fourth).

(Photo credit: By CFC Unofficial (Debs) (Chelsea 2 QPR 1) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)