Portimonense vs Sporting

At the Estadio Municipal de Portimao on Friday, Portimonense is the underdog against Sporting Lisbon, the Primeira Liga defending champions and runners-up in the previous season's cup.

Despite having a terrible start to their Segunda Liga campaign, the second-tier team defeated Vianense in the previous round and is hoping to defeat Ruben Amorim's team this weekend.

Portimonense was expected to start quickly in their attempt to return to the Primeira Liga, but their performance has fallen short of expectations despite being relegated after seven years in the top division.

After a 5-1 thumping of Maritimo prior to the September international break, which was the team's only victory since Pessoa took over for Sergio Vieira in late August, Ricardo Pessoa's team has lost three straight league games to Torreense (3-2), Penafiel (2-0), and Leixoes (3-0).

Their 3-1 cup victory over Vianense in the last week of last month gave them some respite, but league defeats to Penafiel and Leixoes have soured the atmosphere before they host Sporting.

Marafados' lack of goals in their previous losses prior to the break is especially concerning, as it does not auger well before they play a team that hasn't given up a goal at home since mid-August.

The round-three match will be decided on Friday, and Pessoa's team hopes to catch Sporting on a rare bad day in the one-off match.

Since Amorim's team last gave up a goal in domestic competition when Nigel Thomas tied the score for promoted Nacional before they scored five more goals to win 6-1 on the road, they might not be in the mood to do their struggling opponents any favors.

In order to extend that record to seven straight domestic shutouts, the reigning Liga champions and runners-up from the previous season's cup have defeated Porto (2-0), Arouca (3-0), AVS (3-0), Estoril (3-0), and Casa Pia (2-0) without allowing a goal since that victory on August 17.

Even though the Green and Whites replied to that concession by keeping Casa Pia out prior to the international break, only Jerdy Schouten of PSV has stopped Leoes from keeping clean sheets in eight straight games across all competitions.

In their quest for another victory against a team they have remarkably dominated by winning 12 straight games across all competitions since Portimonense's 4-2 victory in the 2018–19 season, they hope to continue where they left off against their second-tier opponents.

Sporting's superiority is further demonstrated by this dominance, and Amorim's team will support themselves to cause their Segunda Liga hosts to suffer yet another defeat.