Sporting vs. Eintracht Frankfurt: UEFA Champions League probable teams, match stats and LIVE blog!

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Group D is absolutely wide open going into the final round of games. Götze combined well with Jesper Lindstrom, Daichi Kamada and Randal Kolo Muani last week as Eintracht beat Marseille 2-1 at home to set up a grandstand finish. The UEFA Europa League holders start Matchday 6 in third place, behind Sporting only on head-to-head. It means Champions League debutants Frankfurt have to win in Lisbon to go through, and could even progress as group winners if results go their way. Oliver Glasner will likely stick with his quality quartet up front in this make-or-break trip to Portugal. The Austrian praised Hrvoje Smolcic's performance against Marseille and he could come into the back three. Djibril Sow will likely also start as Frankfurt freshen things up in midfield following their efforts in a tight 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, which ended their four-game winning run across three competitions.

A heavily rotated Sporting also lost at the weekend, going down 1-0 away at Arouca to leave the Lions outside the top three in Portugal and 12 points adrift of leaders Benfica after 11 games. Marcus Edwards was among those who started on the bench but should come back into the XI at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. Ex-Mainz central defender is also an option after coming on in the last couple of games. Sporting have lost five of their nine games since they beat Tottenham Hotspur on Matchday 2, also drawing in London last week. With Spurs top on eight points and Marseille bottom on six, every outcome is still possible in Group D. Frankfurt will win the section if they beat Sporting and Tottenham fail to win at Marseille in France. But a victory of any sorts will see the Bundesliga club through. They need to equal Marseille's result to guarantee third and continue their European adventure back in the Europa League as holders.

Match stats

This is Frankfurt's Champions League debut and if they were to win Group D they would become the first German side since Kaiserslautern (1998/99) to top their group in their maiden campaign.

Kamada (two) is currently Frankfurt's leading UCL scorer and second in the club's all-time list for European goals on 13 in 35 games. Only Bernd Hölzenbein has more (24 in 40)

Lindstrom scored the club's first ever goal in the competition, while Faride Alidou and Kolo Muani as their other Champions League scorers thus far.

The reverse fixture marked the first ever competitive meeting between these two sides.

So far this term, Die Adler have recovered the ball more times (255) than any other team in the tournament.

Evan Ndicka, Djibril Sow and Kevin Trapp have played every minute of Eintracht's five-game 2022/23 European campaign.

Probable teams

Sporting: Adan - Reis, Coates (c), Inacio - Porro, Morita, Ugarte, Santos - Edwards, Paulinho, Trincao

Out: Braganca (knee), Neto (knee)

Doubtful: -

Coach: Ruben Amorim

Frankfurt: Trapp (c) - Smolcic, Tuta, Ndicka - Jakic, Kamada, Sow, Pellegrini - Lindström, Götze - Kolo Muani

Out: Buta (knee), Hasebe (knee), Knauff (thigh), Lenz (thigh), Toure (ineligible)

Doubtful: -

Coach: Oliver Glasner

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