Taça de Portugal Final Odds & Picks: Sporting Lisbon vs FC Porto

• Porto are the hot favorites to win Portuguese Cup
• Recent winners over Sporting last weekend
• Could a surprise in store this weekend?

It’s the Portuguese Cup Final this weekend – known as the Taça de Portugal Final – with Sporting Lisbon and FC Porto meeting in the Estadio Nacional on Saturday, May 25, 2019 at 12:15 pm EST to contest Portugal’s second-biggest soccer prize.

Sporting Lisbon vs FC Porto Odds

*Odds taken on May 22, 2019

Porto kick off as favorites, which represents the fact they finished the season 11 points ahead of Sporting in the Primeira Liga table, although neither was able to stop Benfica from winning. So, this final is a battle between second and third.

?Final da partida. Os Leões perdem o clássico por 2-1 na última jornada da #LigaNOS.#SportingCP #FCPSCP #DiaDeSporting pic.twitter.com/SpcuDKJZMJ

— Sporting Clube de Portugal (@Sporting_CP) May 18, 2019

Neck and Neck

Both teams have won the Portuguese Cup on 16 occasions, so there is nothing to separate the teams on that score. But if we take their most recent meeting as a guide, it was Porto who emerged winners with two late goals from Danilo Pereira and Hector Herrera overturning Sporting’s lead that was given to them by Brazilian forward Luiz Phellype.

? Final da Taça de Portugal
? Sábado ⌚ 17h15#FCPorto #SCPFCP #TaçadePortugal pic.twitter.com/wCgnz7T8ym

— FC Porto (@FCPorto) May 21, 2019

It’s worth noting, however, that Sporting was reduced to ten men following the 20th-minute sending-off of fullback Cristian Borja, and so to have lost by the odd goal in those circumstances probably doesn’t give too many clues ahead of Saturday.

Battling Sporting

It does, however, offer a glimpse into the fighting and battling qualities of Sporting – so important in any cup game – and the goalscoring prowess of the highly-rated Phellype.

Sporting has other goalscoring threats too, namely in the form of big Dutch forward Bas Dost, while home-grown star Bruno Fernandes is being linked with a big-money move to the English Premier League after scoring 20 goals in Portugal’s top-flight this season.

Time for Porto to Deliver

For Porto and their manager Sergio Conceicao it’s been a season that promised much but ultimately has delivered very little, which is why Saturday’s game is so important for them. To have been on the coattails of Benfica for so long and then miss out on the title was a crushing disappointment and so to end the season trophy-less would compound it.

?GOLOOOOO!! Luiz Phellype frente a frente ao guarda-redes não perdoa!!! ?

⏱61' FC Porto 0-1 #SportingCP#LigaNOS #FCPSCP #DiaDeSporting pic.twitter.com/erwSLFyn5j

— Sporting Clube de Portugal (@Sporting_CP) May 18, 2019

In addition to an impressive but ultimately fruitless league campaign, Porto also performed well in the Champions League, picking up five wins and a draw in the group stages, and only losing out in the knockout stages to eventual finalist, Liverpool.

For Porto it’s been a season that promised much but ultimately has delivered very little

It’s a side with a strong spine, with highly-rated defender Eder Militao – who appears bound for Real Madrid this summer – supported by Herrera, Pereira, Yacine Brahimi, Moussa Marega and Vincent Aboubakar, but it’s also an ageing team who are now at the end of a long, arduous campaign.

One Final Twist

And it’s for that reason we have a hunch that Sporting can spring a surprise on Saturday. Last weekend’s win for Porto was a narrow one and with that still fresh in the mind we can see Sporting getting on the front foot early and getting their noses ahead again, only this time, with eleven men on the pitch, they will see the job through.

Our pick: Sporting to win in 90 minutes +275