Sporting CP vs LOSC Lille facts

Sporting CP and LOSC Lille return to the UEFA Champions League with a meeting at the Estádio José Alvalade as the new league phase kicks off in Lisbon.

The Portuguese champions are making their third appearance in four years having spent 2023/24 in the UEFA Europa League, while Lille last featured in the Champions League in 2021/22, when they reached the knockout stages for the second time.

Previous meetings

Matches 2
Sporting CP wins 2
Lille wins 0
Draws 0
Sporting CP goals 3
Lille goals 1

2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage
Lille 1-2 Sporting CP
First-half goals from Simon Vukčević (11) and Hélder Postiga (34) gave the Portuguese side victory at the Stadium Lille Métropole despite Pierre-Alain Frau halving the home side's deficit 12 minutes into the second period. That was Sporting's first win in France.

Sporting CP 1-0 Lille
Anderson Polga scored the only goal after 28 minutes at the Estádio José Alvalade to seal first place in Group C with a game to spare. Lille joined their Portuguese hosts in the round of 32 with victory in their final fixture to take second place in the standings.

Form guide

Sporting CP

Record vs French clubs: W7 D5 L8 F23 A26
Home record vs French clubs: W5 D2 L3

Sporting's last games against Ligue 1 opposition came in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage, losing to Marseille 4-1 in France – despite taking a first-minute lead through Francisco Trincão – and 2-0 in Portugal.

Sporting failed to win in their first three home games against French visitors (D2 L1) but have five victories in their seven subsequent matches, losing the other two.

The Lions are making their 11th appearance in the Champions League proper, and a third in four seasons.

The most recent of those came in 2022/23, when the Lions finished third in their section behind Tottenham and Eintracht Frankfurt, picking up seven points from their six games.

Sporting went on to reach the Europa League quarter-finals two seasons ago and also spent the 2023/24 campaign in that competition. Second in their section behind eventual champions Atalanta, Rúben Amorim's side beat Young Boys 4-2 on aggregate in the knockout round play-offs only to once again lose out to Atalanta in the round of 16, going out 2-3 over the two legs.

The Portuguese club won two of their five home European games in 2023/24 (D2 L1) – although those are two of only three victories in their last 12 (D4 L5). In the Champions League, they have lost seven of their last 12 matches in Lisbon, winning the other five.

Sporting claimed their 20th league title – and a second in four years, having not lifted the crown between 2001/2 and 2020/21 – last season, finishing with 90 points – ten ahead of runners-up and Lisbon rivals Benfica.

LOSC Lille

Record vs Portuguese clubs: W1 D2 L5 F3 A7
Away record vs Portuguese clubs: W1 D0 L3

LOSC's last tie against a team from Portugal came in the 2014/15 Champions League play-offs, when they lost 1-0 at home and 2-0 away against Porto.

That made it four successive defeats, and six games without a win (D1 L5) against Portuguese Liga sides.

Lille's only victory against a Portuguese club, home or away, was a 2-0 success at Leiria in a 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup final second leg, completing an aggregate victory by the same score. The French side have lost their three other games in Portugal, all without scoring.

The last of Lille's seven Champions League group appearances came in 2021/22, when they won their section ahead of Salzburg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg before losing to holders Chelsea in the round of 16 (0-2 a, 1-2 h).

Those were their most recent games in the competition before this season's third qualifying round, when they beat Fenerbahçe 2-1 at home and drew 1-1 away to progress 3-2 on aggregate. They conceded in added time in the second leg in Istanbul, Bafodé Diakité's 91st-minute own goal taking the tie into extra time, but a 118th-minute penalty from Jonathan David sent the French side through.

Lille also edged through a tight play-off against Slavia Praha, winning 2-0 in the home first leg and squeezing through despite a 2-1 loss in Czechia – Eren Zhegrova's 77th-minute strike providing decisive.

LOSC had taken part in the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2023/24, winning their section unbeaten (W4 D2) ahead of Slovan Bratislava, Olimpija Ljubljana and KÍ Klaksvik and then getting the better of Sturm Graz in the round of 16 (3-0 a, 1-1 h) before losing on penalties to Aston Villa in the quarter-finals (1-2 a, 2-1 h aet, 3-4 pens).

Lille have won two of their last nine away European games, losing three.

Les Dogues – who replaced coach Paulo Fonseca with Bruno Génésio in the summer – were fourth in Ligue 1 in 2023/24, their highest finish since claiming their fourth league title in 2020/21.

Links and trivia

Rafael Fernandes (2015–22) and Tiago Santos (2009–17) both came through the youth ranks at Sporting.

Santos played with Gonçalo Inácio, Eduardo Quaresma and Diogo Pinto in Sporting's Under-19 team.

Fernandes also played for Portuguese side Arouca from 2022 to 2024 while Santos's Portuguese club included, at youth level, Oeiras (2017/18) and Sacavenense (2018/19) before two years at Estoril between 2021 and 2023.

Have also played in Portugal:
Ismaily (Estoril Praia 2009/10, Olhanense 2010–12, Braga 2012/13)
Angel Gomes (Boavista 2020/21 loan)
Alexsandro Ribeiro (Praiense 2018–20, Amora 2020/21, GD Chaves 2021/22)

Have also played together:
Morten Hjulmand & Samuel Umtiti (Lecce 2022/23)
Francisco Trincão & Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona 2020/21)

Ismaily played alongside Sporting coach Rúben Amorim at Braga in 2012.

International team-mates:
Gonçalo Inácio, Francisco Trincão, Quenda, Pedro Gonçalves & Tiago Santos (Portugal)
Viktor Gyökeres & Gabriel Gudmundsson (Sweden)
Zeno Debast & Thomas Meunier (Belgium)

Latest news

Sporting CP

Sporting have five wins from five in this season's Portuguese Liga, scoring 19 goals and conceding only two.

This is the first time in five campaigns under Rúben Amorim Sporting have won their first five league matches.

The Lions were 3-0 victors at Arouca on Friday, Pedro Gonçalves scoring his fourth league goal of the season and Viktor Gyökeres, a penalty, and Francisco Trincão also on target for his third of the campaign.

Eight of Sporting's goals this season have been scored by Gyökeres, including two at Nacional (6-1) and a hat-trick in an away win at Farense (5-0).

Gyökeres has 11 goals and five assists in eight games for club and country in 2024/25 and has found the net in his last seven games.

On 31 August, Gyökeres scored his 50th goal for Sporting in his 55th match in a 2-0 league win at home to Porto.

The Lions have won their last eight league games and 16 of the last 17; they have suffered one defeat in 28 Liga matches and have scored in the last 39, winning the last 19 at home.

Sporting started the season with a 4-3 extra-time defeat by Porto in the Portuguese Super Cup on 3 August, despite leading 3-0 inside 24 minutes.

Vladan Kovačević suffered an ankle injury in training during the international break and was absent on Friday.

Jeremiah St. Juste has not played since sustaining a thigh injury in pre-season.

On 5 September, Gyökeres scored one goal and set up two more in Sweden's 3-1 UEFA Nations League win in Azerbaijan; three days later he scored twice in a 3-0 home win against Estonia.

On 6 September, Geny Catamo scored Mozambique's goal in a 1-1 draw against Mali in a CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Hidemasa Morita scored twice as Japan beat Bahrain 5-0 in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying on 10 September.

LOSC Lille

Lille have played four Ligue 1 matches so far, winning the first two and losing the last two. They went down 1-0 at St-Étienne on Friday, making it five goals scored and four conceded.

LOSC won 2-0 at Reims and at home to Angers before losing 3-1 at home to Paris on 1 September.

Edon Zhegrova has already scored four goals this season.

New signing Thomas Meunier broke the deadlock against Angers.

Angel Gomes made his England debut as a substitute in a 2-0 UEFA Nations League win away to the Republic of Ireland on 7 September – the first Lille player to represent the Three Lions while at the club – and started the 2-0 home win against Finland three days later.

Mitchel Bakker returned as a substitute on Friday having been sidelined by a muscular problem since 23 August.

Ethan Mbappé missed the defeat at St-Étienne with a knock.

Ngal'ayel Mukau picked up an ankle injury against Paris and is expected to be out for at least six weeks.

Hákon Arnar Haraldsson suffered a foot injury while on Iceland duty on 5 September and is likely to be out until early December.

Ismaily, who has not played since 20 August, has been struggling with a knee injury.