The Champions League draw pitted us with a familiar foe in Sporting Lisbon, who we've faced many times before in European competition but never been in the premier club competition.
It was only a couple of years ago that we last faced off in the Europa League last-16, but much has changed for the Portuguese champions since then, especially in the past few weeks with manager Ruben Amorim defecting to Manchester United.
Ahead of Tuesday's game, here is everything you need to know about our opponents:
The history
The third-most successful club in Portuguese football with 55 major honours to their name, Sporting were founded in 1906 by Jose Avalade - whom their stadium is named after. Six years after playing in the top-flight for the first time, they won their first championship in 1935.
A golden period between 1947 and 1954 saw the Lions claim seven out of eight league titles, and the following year they played in the first-ever European Cup match against Partizan Belgrade. 1964 would see them lift their only continental silverware to date, as they beat MTK Budapest to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
The rest of the century saw regular success dry up, but they ended an 18-year wait for a league title in 2000, following that up with a double in 2002. However, an even longer drought would then begin, only ending in 2021 following Amorim's arrival the year before.
The stadium
After Portugal was awarded the rights to host Euro 2004, construction started on the Estadio Jose Alvalade on the site of Sporting’s former ground of the same name in 2001, which was completed two years later.
Boasting a capacity of 50,095, the new home was opened in August 2003 when Sporting hosted Manchester United in a friendly that brought Cristiano Ronaldo to the attention of the Red Devils who swiftly snapped him up. As well as five matches at Euro 2004, it hosted the 2005 UEFA Cup final where the Lions were denied winning the trophy on home turf by CSKA Moscow.
During Covid-19, it hosted the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League in behind-closed-doors matches as a neutral venue, while Portugal’s national side regularly play their home matches there.
Last season
It was a spectacular campaign for Sporting who smashed several club records on their way to a 20th league title. The 90 points they accumulated was their highest tally ever, helped by a best-ever 29 wins from 34 games, including all 17 home matches for the first time. That saw them finish 10 points ahead of Benfica, and be crowned champions with two games to spare.
Cup success eluded them though as they were beaten in the Portuguese Cup final by Porto while Braga dumped them out of the League Cup at the semi-final stage. In Europe they reached the last 16 of the Europa League before being beaten by eventual champions Atalanta, but the star of the show in his first season since arriving from Coventry City was Viktor Gyokeres, who won the Primeira Liga Player of the Year and Golden Boot awards after bagging 43 goals in all competitions.
The manager
Following Amorim's departure to Manchester United two weeks ago, Sporting swiftly appointed reserve team manager Joao Pereira as his replacement on a deal until 2027. He is a well-known figure at the club, having represented them on three separate occasions during his playing days which saw him represent Benfica, Braga, Valencia and Trabzonspor.
As a right-back, he won 40 caps for Portugal and was selected for Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup before hanging up his boots with Sporting under Amorim in 2021. He swiftly moved into coaching, beginning life as a manager with their under-23 side before progressing to the reserve team at the start of this season, who play in the third tier of Portuguese football, but has now quickly ascended to the top job in Lisbon.
The squad
Viktor Gyokeres has enjoyed a career revitalisation since moving to Coventry from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2021. After impressing for the Sky Blues, the Swede moved to Lisbon at the start of last season and currently has 67 goals in 69 games for Sporting to become one of world football's most eye-catching players.
Having played for Wolves in the Premier League, Portuguese international Francisco Trincao joined from Barcelona last year, while another player who spent time at Molineux, Pedro Goncalves, is a regular goalscorer from attacking midfield. The same could be said for former Tottenham youngster Marcus Edwards, who netted against us back in 2019 in the Europa League for Vitoria.
17-year-old wing-back Geovany Quenda has broken through this term and became the youngest player ever to score for Sporting, who are captained by Danish defensive midfielder Morten Hjulmand, who scored against England at Euro 2024.
Portuguese international Goncalo Inacio is partnered by young centre-back Zeno Debast who plays for Belgium alongside Leandro Trossard, while Hidemasa Morita is a Japan teammate of Takehiro Tomiyasu.
The season so far
Having seen his side recover from two goals down to beat Braga 4-2 in his final match, Amorim left Sporting with a perfect record of 11 wins from 11 league games to leave them six points clear of Porto as they aim to win back-to-back league titles for the first time since 1954. He also progressed in the two domestic cup competitions, with the only blot on their copybook being an extra-time defeat to Porto in the Super Cup.
His most impressive work has come in the Champions League, as Sporting head into this game second in the table with 10 points. Lille were beaten 2-0 to start the campaign, before a draw at PSV Eindhoven, but a 2-0 win at Sturm Graz was followed by an incredible 4-1 dismantling of Manchester City last month, where Gyokeres helped himself to a hat-trick, part of a 24-goal haul in just 19 matches this term.
Pereira's reign began with a Portuguese Cup meeting with fourth-ter Amarante FC on Friday, whom they smashed 6-0 with Edwards grabbing a brace to hand the new boss a positive start to his tenure.
The previous meetings
This will be the fourth time we have been paired with Sporting in European competition. Our first encounter came back in 1969/70 when we drew 0-0 away from home before a John Radford goal and a George Graham brace saw us progress during our successful Fairs Cup run. Then in 2018, we played two Europa League group games - Danny Welbeck's strike saw us come out on top at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, before a 0-0 draw at Emirates Stadium booked our place in the knockout stages.
Five years later we met again in the same competition, as we drew 2-2 in Portugal. William Saliba put us in front before efforts from Inacio and Paulinho turned things around, but a Morita own goal levelled things up again. A goalless draw in north London saw Sporting triumph on penalties to progress to the quarter-finals.
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