Real vs Sporting de Portugal
Real Madrid will face Sporting Portugal -current champions of the Cup of Portugal and the Portuguese Super Cup- at 22:00 CET tonight in the 30th edition of the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy.
Some of the best teams n the world have participated in the Trophy throughout its history.
Real Madrid have won the competition 19 times. Other winners are Milan, Inter Milan, Ajax and Bayern Munich. The match usually serves as the Whites’ presentation to their fans just before the start of the season, but this year it’s been preceded by the team’s epic victory in the Spanish Super Cup. The Santiago Bernabéu Trophy also gives non-Club Members a chance to see the team play live with tickets starting at 6 euros.
The rules of the competition allow each side to make up to eight substitutions during the clash, which will surely give most of the players on both sides a chance to shine. Javier Saviola, Míchel Salgado and Wesley Sneijder are injured and will therefore have to miss the match. Derlei, Leandro Grima and Liedson are important absences in the Portuguese camp, but coach Paulo Bento counts on Caneira and Helder Postiga as possible replacements.
Champions League team
Now that they’ve defeated Porto in the Supertaça (Portuguese Super Cup), Sporting’s greatest challenge is the Champions League, for which they qualified as runners-up in the league. The club has won 18 league titles -the last in 2002- and one European Cup Winners’ Cup (1964).
Joao Moutinho is the team’s undisputed leader. The international captain is a quality playmaker and a dangerous threat on goal. Strikers Derlei and Helder Postiga always make the starting line-up and are always dangerous. Marco Caneira and Fabio Rochemback -former Valencia and Barcelona players, respectively- take the team’s reins down the wings. Coach Paulo Bento is a legend in his country; he retired as a player in 2004.
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