A trophy cabinet can never have too much silverware and both Porto and Sporting CP know what's at stake in this second leg of the Taça De Portugal Semi-finals clash.
It’s a hectic schedule for the away team, as they were in action only four days ago in the Primeira Liga.
Porto form and stats
Porto was eliminated in the semi-finals last season in the Taça De Portugal. Sporting Braga was too strong.Porto have been very solid at home in the Primeira Liga so far, with 41 points collected from 15 matches (13-2-0). This has contributed greatly to their 1st position in the table.
Nothing to worry about in defence for Porto, as their goalkeeper Agustin Federico Marchesin has completely shut out the opponents for 474 minutes in the Primeira Liga.
The Porto regulars enjoyed the previous game, watching their team host Portimonense and win 7-0. As mentioned above, Porto "killed" Portimonense in their previous game. They need to reset completely for this one and beware of complacency. What a game it was for Taremi when beating Portimonense, applying the finishing touch to three goals! The versatile forward Taremi outperformed all the other footballers in that game and managed a match rating of 9.94 out of 10. Taremi scored three goals, hit the woodwork once, served one assist, hit two key passes, dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times and had 19 successful passes (of 22 total).
In the game before, an away victory in the Primeira Liga match versus Vitoria Guimaraes with a 1-0 scoreline.There will be little rest for Porto after this match as they are travelling to Sporting Braga for a Primeira Liga game in only four days.
Porto are an "over 2,5 goals" team alone here at Estádio Do Dragão in their league games, having scored an impressive 44 goals in 15 matches. From these home matches, Porto have conceded only 9 goals.
Sporting CP form and stats
Sporting CP was sent out of Taça De Portugal in the 8th finals last season.Sporting CP have an excellent away record in the Primeira Liga so far with 11-3-1 from 15 games.
Sporting CP might have something to prove in this game as they lost at home in their previous match. Benfica proved too strong as Sporting CP slumped to a 0-2 defeat in front of their own fans at Estádio José Alvalade. Midfield player Santos was the top player of the team with a match rating of 8.04/10. Santos hit two key passes and had 36 successful passes (of 39 total).
Preceding that game was the away Primeira Liga victory against Tondela with the score of 3-1.Sporting CP have another fixture away from home in just four sleeps, a Primeira Liga match against Boavista. A difficult itinerary for the guests!
The Sporting CP manager Amorim has got the team scoring on the road, with 33 away goals in 15 league matches. It's not easy to score on Sporting CP as they have only conceded 13 goals from these away games. There's been improvement defensively lately, as only 1 of these goals has been conceded in their last three away matches.
Head 2 Head
The teams have met each other previously this season, with the match result Sporting CP - Porto 1-2 written in the official records. Statistics for the preceeding ten meetings between these two participants are: four wins for Porto, five draws and one win for Sporting CP. Over 2,5 goals: seven times; under 2,5 goals: three games. The matches between these teams have had a tendency to be hot-tempered, having seen 8 red cards from the last ten duels.Top Goalscorers
  M. Taremi 18 goals |  F. de Lima Barbosa 13 goals |   J. Dias Fernandes 11 goals |
Porto missing players
Sporting CP missing players
| Porto | Sporting CP | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 14 | 25 | ||
| 20 | 10 | Won | W | 10 | 17 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Drew | D | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1 | 1 | Lost | L | 1 | 5 | ||
| 60 | 32 | Scored | S | 31 | 49 | ||
| 18 | 8 | Conceded | C | 11 | 25 | ||
| 100% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 93% | 96% | ||
| 76% | 77% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 86% | 92% | ||
| 64% | 69% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 64% | 60% | ||
| 44% | 38% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 43% | 32% | ||
| 16% | 8% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 14% | 16% | ||
| 52% | 46% | BTTS | BTTS | 57% | 48% | ||
| 44% | 46% | Clean Sheets | C S | 43% | 44% | ||
| 4% | 8% | Failed to Score | F T | 7% | 12% | ||
| 5.8 | 6.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5 | 5.1 | ||
| 3.2 | 3.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.2 | 3.1 | ||
| 2.2 | 2.1 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 3 | 2.8 | ||
| 5 | 4 | Red cards | R C | 7 | 7 | ||
| 16.8 | 18.3 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 13.8 | 14.2 | ||
| 5.7 | 6.3 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.4 | 5.6 | ||
| 42% | 39% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 41% | 35% | ||
| 8.1 | 7.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 8.2 | 7.8 | ||
| 2.5 | 2.2 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 2.7 | 2.8 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Porto | 30 | 26 | 4 | 0 | 79 | 19 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 44 | 9 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 35 | 10 | 60 | 82 |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 30 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 59 | 20 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 26 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 33 | 13 | 39 | 73 |
| 3 | Benfica | 30 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 75 | 29 | 15 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 36 | 15 | 15 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 39 | 14 | 46 | 67 |
| 4 | Sporting Braga | 30 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 47 | 28 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 25 | 13 | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 22 | 15 | 19 | 56 |
| 5 | Gil Vicente | 30 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 42 | 32 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 21 | 18 | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 21 | 14 | 10 | 47 |
| 6 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 42 | 38 | 15 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 28 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 4 | 42 |
| 7 | Maritimo | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 36 | 39 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 24 | -3 | 36 |
| 8 | Pacos de Ferreira | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 27 | 38 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 19 | -11 | 36 |
| 9 | Estoril | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 32 | 36 | 15 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 19 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 17 | -4 | 35 |
| 10 | Santa Clara | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 33 | 47 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 20 | 21 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 26 | -14 | 35 |
| 11 | Boavista | 30 | 6 | 15 | 9 | 34 | 45 | 15 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 29 | -11 | 33 |
| 12 | Portimonense | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 27 | 41 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 19 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 | 22 | -14 | 32 |
| 13 | Famalicao | 30 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 36 | 46 | 15 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 20 | 28 | -10 | 29 |
| 14 | Vizela | 30 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 31 | 48 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 29 | -17 | 29 |
| 15 | Arouca | 30 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 28 | 51 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 29 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 22 | -23 | 27 |
| 16 | Moreirense | 30 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 28 | 46 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 20 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 26 | -18 | 26 |
| 17 | Tondela | 30 | 7 | 4 | 19 | 37 | 60 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 21 | 30 | 15 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 16 | 30 | -23 | 25 |
| 18 | Belenenses | 30 | 5 | 9 | 16 | 19 | 49 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 13 | 26 | 15 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 23 | -30 | 24 |
