Derbies Rock the Portuguese Primeria Liga on Saturday
Published July 25, 2020 by Florin P
Sporting and Benfica lock horns in a timeless derby, while Braga and Porto play a stake-less derby in the final round of the Portuguese Primeria Liga.
The Primeria Liga will end this weekend and with few exceptions, most of the teams are certain of their final placement. Even so, Saturday afternoon brings into the spotlight the best Portuguese teams, as they play matches that qualify for the status of derbies. In Italy, Napoli will try to secure direct passage to the Europa League group stage as they have home pitch advantage against relegation-threatened Udinese
Benfica and Sporting Play the Derby of Lisbon
Benfica and Sporting are two of the biggest rivals in Portuguese football and their schedule to play in the last match of the season. Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been a highly anticipated match with high-stakes and high expectations. This time, Benfica are certain of their Champions League placement, while Sporting are certain to finish in the 3rd place and play in the Europa League. Even so, the rivalry is huge and Benfica is slight favorite at bet365 Sports in the match starting at 9:15 PM UK time.
Braga Tests Porto’s Invincibility on Saturday
Porto have won the championship once again and play this match on the road without any pressure. They will try to extend the undefeated run against a team that has a solid home pitch record, but will miss the support of the fans. The visitors will be narrow favorites at bet365 Sports, as they don’t have any players missing or suspended and can field the best starting 11. Braga suffered a disappointing defeat on the road mid-week against Tondela and will have to go through qualifiers to play in the Europa League next year.
Napoli Aims for the Last Europa League Place
Napoli are within striking distance of AS Roma and wait for a mistake to overtake their rivals and secure a Europa League berth. To keep their hopes alive, they need to defeat Sassuolo on Sunday evening in a match scheduled for 8:45 PM UK time. The visitors are in good form but lack any clear objective and were recently defeated by AC Milan. Odds of 1/2 on the home side to prevail aren’t exactly high, but they are justified by the discrepancy in skill and motivation between the two teams.
Disclaimer:
The odds mentioned here were accurate at the featured bookmakers at the hour the article was written, respectively on Thursday, July 22 at 8 am UK time.
