Sporting Lisbon hope to continue Portugal’s European streak in the UEFA Cup final against Russia’s CSKA Moscow. The signs look good.
Sporting have the rare advantage of playing at their Jose Alvalade Stadium for tomorrow’s final. Fewer than 2,000 Russian fans are expected in the sellout 45,000 crowd.
The Lisbon side is the third Portuguese club in three years to reach a European final. Jose Mourinho, now coach at English champions Chelsea, led Porto to the UEFA Cup and Champions League trophies.
CSKA, meanwhile, must overcome poor away form to become the first Russian club to win a European title.
Sporting coach Jose Peseiro has tried to dampen the euphoria among home fans.
“There’s no advantage for either team in a final,” he said.
Peseiro recalled last July’s final of the European Championship in Portugal. Portugal lost to Greece across the street at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz.
Peseiro, a former assistant coach at Real Madrid under Carlos Queiroz in 2003-04, is wary that the underdog Russians could spring a surprise.
“It’s going to be a game between a team that has nothing to lose and one that has everything to lose,” Peseiro said. “I expect their coach to make the most of that, quietly working hard and making the most of the pressure that’s on us.”
CSKA is unworried by the home advantage. The club is enjoying its best-ever season in Europe since reaching the quarter-finals of the 1972 European Cup.
“I don’t give a damn about bookmakers. We know better who is better,” CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev said.
Added Croatian striker Ivica Olic: “The most difficult thing is psychological fatigue, but we don’t seem to have it. We’re in good condition.”
Sporting’s only European trophy was in 1964 when they beat MTK Budapest to win the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup.
Sporting need to rebound from a painful league defeat on Saturday against Benfica in the Lisbon derby. The loss knocked Sporting out of the race for the Portuguese title.
“We have to put that defeat behind us and focus our thoughts on the final,” Sporting’s Brazilian midfielder Fabio Rochemback said.
Sporting’s backroom staff is working hard on the players’ fitness. Sporting have played each week since last August, while CSKA had the benefit of Russian soccer’s winter break.
The Russian league also allowed CSKA to skip a week of league play to prepare for their semi-final second leg against Parma.
“The outcome will be decided on the pitch, but the fact that they have the support of their fans is an advantage,” CSKA’s Brazilian striker Wagner Love said. “Obviously, the fact that our season is just starting is favourable for us.”
Sporting midfielder Carlos Martins and Nigerian central defender Joseph Enakarhire, who have missed recent games through injury, have recovered in time for the final.
Sporting have beaten Feyenoord and English clubs Middlesbrough and Newcastle and edged Dutch club AZ Alkmaar on away goals in the semis to reach the final.
The comparisons with 1964 have not gone unnoticed. In that year’s quarter-finals, Sporting lost 4-1 at Old Trafford against a Manchester United team featuring Bobby Charlton and George Best. But they won the return leg 5-0.
“We never throw in the towel,” said Miguel Garcia, whose late goal at Alkmaar took Sporting through.
CSKA have not won away in this season’s UEFA Cup, but have scored eight times without conceding in their three home games. CSKA dropped down into the UEFA Cup in the round of 32 from the Champions League. They have also beaten Benfica, Partizan Belgrade and Auxerre to reach the final.
Soviet clubs won the Cup Winner’s Cup three times – Dynamo Kiev in 1975 and 1986 and Dinamo Tbilisi in 1981. The clubs now represent Ukraine and Georgia, respectively.
Until now, no Russian club had bettered Dinamo Moscow’s effort of reaching the final of the 1972 Cup Winners’ Cup, which they lost to Rangers. Spartak Moscow reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1991 and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1993, with Lokomotiv Moscow losing in Cup Winners’ Cup semis in 1998 and 1999.