UEFA Champions League: Olympique Marseille vs. Sporting Preview, Odds, Prediction

Olympique Marseille hosts Sporting in the UEFA Champions League‘s round three. The French powerhouse and the former European champion have high hopes for this season, but so do the Lions from Lisbon. For the moment, Sporting tops Group D with six points in two games, while on the other side, Marseille sits dead last without points nor goals scored. If they lose Tuesday’s contest, the French team could easily finish their international adventure, meaning posting a win is an absolute must in this case.

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Preview

Olympique Marseille (+115) trashed Angers this Friday, 0-3 on the road, which was a huge morale boost before Tuesday. Igor Tudor’s crew posted mixed results before the break oscillating a lot and not being able to find the proper rhythm that would constantly earn them points in the UEFA Champions League.

So far, the performances in Ligue One aren’t bad at all, and Olympique didn’t lose a single game, winning seven times and having two draws. Though, before beating Angers, they would have just one victory in four meetings, with the losses in the UCL spoiling the impression.

The previous two events at Velodrome saw Marseille losing to Eintracht, 0-2, and playing 1-1 against Rennes. Prior to these two games, they would win four in a row. Tudor’s crew plays very well at home due to 60,000 wild fans creating an excellent atmosphere. Though, sometimes it imposes pressure on the hosts who fail to meet the expectations, like against Eintracht.

Sporting Lisbon (+225) opened the season posting just one win in the opening four games, and back then, it seemed that the Lions wouldn’t be a competitive team. Though, since the start of September, Ruben Amorim managed to wake up his crew, who recorded five wins and one loss.

Among those triumphs, we saw the Lions beating Eintracht on the road, 0-3 and Tottenham at home, 2-0, which placed them atop of the group, opening the door to the knockout stage.

When Sporting plays, we usually see a moderate efficiency, 2 or 3 goals, and goals on just one end of the field, as seven of the past nine matches ended like that. On the road, the Lions have two wins and two defeats, plus a draw, with the previous four ending all with 2 or 3 scores.

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Sead Kolasinac is injured for the hosts, and he won’t be ready for this game.

On the other side, we have Braganca, Neto, and Cabral are out for Tuesday’s clash.

Head to Head Games

The two sides had friendly games in 2017, when Marseille won, 2-1, and a year later, which ended with a draw, 1-1.

Prediction

This is going to be a tough game with a cautious approach from both teams. Sporting is going to try to decrease the pace and the tempo on the field because they wouldn’t mind taking one point at Velodrom. Meanwhile, the hosts too have to prevent any surprises ahead of their net, and all this will cause Tuesday’s game to have low efficiency, meaning under 2.5 goals. We were hesitating a little bit, because we couldn’t decide between this pick and both teams not to score.

Pick: Under 2.5 goals -110

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