Could go either way this one.
You might think Sporting will be feeling fragile after their rogering in the Champions League, but they’re bemusingly inconsistent and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see them win here. However, Porto are consistently strong, have the best attack in the league by a mile and could easily put another hat full past Bento’s boys.
I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
Starting lineups:
Porto: Helton; Pedro Emanuel, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Cissokho; Lucho González, Fernando Raul Meireles; Hulk, Lisandro, Rodríguez.
Sporting: Tiago; Silva, Carrico, Polga, Grimi; Rochemback, Pereirinha, Izmailov, Moutinho; Derlei, Liedson.
Benfica won last night to move a point behind Porto in second, making this even more of a must-win tie for both sides.
I’m also after a recipe for a decent prawn cocktail.
Sporting’s Moutinho has been linked with Everton again today, and will apparently be off there for £10m in the summer. He somewhat tactlessly said of the rumours: “I’m happy at Sporting but I also want to progress as a player.”
The players are coming out the tunnel and there are too many stripes going on here. Where are Trinny and Susannah when you need them? Probably telling Bendtner what colour boots to wear.
Away we go. I think Hulk could really rip the Sporting defence to pieces tonight if he is in the mood.
Porto having the best of it in the opening minutes. Lisandro Lopez bundled over on the edge of the box but the ref gives nothing.
6 – Moutinho totally scuffs a shot. Glad to see Pereirinha getting a start tonight.
8 – Helton gathers a cross easily. Despite his “frango” the other night against Atletico, he’s really a very reliable keeper, and easily the best in this league.
10 - Bit of argy bargy between Hulk and Rochemback, all because they touched eachother’s heads when going for a header.
14 – Porto string together some nice passes, with Rodriguez and Meireles at the centre of it all. Goes nowhere when Rochemback clatters Rodriguez and gets away with it.
15 – Derlei scores, but is about three miles offside. The old bastard might get away with pushing to the front of the bus queue, but he can’t stand in front of everyone in a game of football.
18 – Porto can’t stay up when they get in the final third. Rodriguez falls over his own feet in the box, then Hulk falls over outside the box after minimal contact. The ref surprisingly ignores both falls.
23 – Izmailov gets the ball in space on the left hand side of the box but drifts it over the bar. He’s been very patchy these last couple of weeks.
Gary from Minchinhampton wants to know what Porto is like as a city. Well, Gary, it’s basically a ditch full of booze factories.
27 – This game is pretty damn crap, but not as crap as my internet, which is going absolutely mental and cascading windows on top of one another.
29 – Grimi off with a knee injury for Caneira. The ref's now gone for a chat with some folk on the sidelines, and has come back to give drop ball. Porto hoof it back to Tiago in the Sporting net. I’m going to predict a red card for this match. Anyone want to bet on that?
36 - My prediction might be coming true. There's a big fight. Yellow for Polga after he hacks Lucho's legs away from under him. Derlei also gets booked for pushing people around.
39 - If I were Polish I'd be thinking: "Ten mecz jest latwopalnym.” But I'm not.
40 - Liesdon heads against the post.
42 - Another chance for Sporting as Moutinho whips in a low cross but it just eludes Liedson.
44 - Cissokho, Porto's very handy left back, clonks Derlei, who might be off for some early Horlicks. A pretty dull first half is thankfully drawing to a close. Both sides probably reeling from midweek fixtures in Europe, at least that'll work as an excuse if the second half turns out to be just as lame.
Injury time - Moutinho goes down after Bill Cosby re-realises his role in Ghost Dad, emerges from the crowd and lops him down.
HALF-TIME: About bloody time. Five minutes of injury time was just unnecessary and painful. Now go away for 15 minutes and let someone shout at you.
I haven't as yet had any emails from people called Barry, Keith or Malcolm. Where are you all?
So, looks like they're coming back. Brace yourselves.
Thinking back over the first half, Sporting had the best chances, with Liedson hitting the post and Izmailov putting it over.I hope they win, just to keep the league interesting.
Let's invent a chant to help the second half along.
How about: I was talking, about Sporting, when Izmailov whipped the ball in and Liedson was scoring.
Sorry, total crap.
47 - Meireles corner. Easily headed out. Makes its way to Liedson who is pushed over by Rolando. Yellow card for Rolando.
51 - Corner for Porto as Rodriguez pelts it down the line and knocks it out off someone in a Sporting shirt. It's strange how Portuguese football has really warped my perception. I genuinely think Rochemback is a decent midfield general.
Wouldn't want to meet Lisandro on a dark night down an alleyway in Porto. I reckon he wouldn't be happy until he'd taken your spleen and eaten it...a treatment that could lie in store for Derlei after he just knocked him over.
58 - Lisandro moving forward. Meireles knocks it out to Hulk. Porto lose it, we're all still bored.
In a strange coincidence, if you add together the ages of all the players on the pitch and divide it by the number of feet that have made contact with the moon, you get another number.
If anyone's going to score, it looks like it will be Porto. Rodriguez seems to be coming to life, as does Lisandro.
For Sporting, Izmailov is looking bereft of imagination, Pereirinha has shown he's got a way to go yet before he gets a move away from Sporting, and Rochemback has just got booked for decking Meireles.
The stadium has gone pretty quiet. It's time for some subs, surely.
66 - Hulk has a free kick from about 40 yards. He drives it low and hard...but wide. You fool, you have to get it between the white sticks.
And as if there weren't enough evidence that anyone, even me, is qualified enough to be Sporting manager, Bento throws on Yannick Djalo for the disappointing Izmailov.
Djalo, for those of you who don't know him, is about three inches tall and can run around really quickly but is so bad he actually repels the ball.
72 - Tomas Costa, the Portuguese equivalent of Tommy Cobbles, comes on for Porto in place of Cissokho.
75 - Porto are totally in control of this, but don't look like scoring one bit. Still no emails from Barries, Keiths or Malcolms.
76 - Ooooh. Lisandro is in the clear, trips over himself, recovers, cuts inside, flicks it with the outside of his boot...and then Sporting clear it.
77 - Rodriguez is making a nuisance of himself. He left his dirty socks all over the floor at home this morning.
79 - Tommy Cobbles has it. He's passing it around quite nicely but keeps getting it back. Eventually Sporting get a touch, but Rodriguez nicks it straight back and then gets legged up by Bruno Pereirinha, the Portuguese equivalent of Barry Partington.
81 - Sporting have it in the final third!! Tommy Cobbles gets booked for a foul on Caneira. Moutinho sends in the free kick which Helton punches out.
84 - Both sides make a change. Rochemback off for Adrien Silva. Lucho off for Farias. Anyone excited?
86 - Derlei and Liedson may as well not have turned up tonight. I've seen more life in Michael Barrymore's swimming pool.
88 - Man of the match, if I had to pick one, would maybe be Meireles. He's been all over the midfield, and done his job, which is more than can be said of any of the strikers.
89 - Lisandro goes off for Sektioui. Porto then get a free kick on the edge of the Sporting box. Farias is standing around, but he won't get a go at it. Bruno Alves does, and he hits the wall.
Injury time - Looks like a 0-0 here. Not been a good game at all, with no real chances and neither side playing much entertaining football.
It's over. Thank heavens.
Who's happy with this result? Benfica. It means they're just two behind Porto, while Sporting remain four off the pace.