Benfica vs Sporting CP prediction 05.12.2025 | Liga Portugal

After two seasons without the most important trophy in Portuguese football, Benfica entered the current campaign with hopes of returning to the throne. However, after 12 league rounds, the team from Estadio da Luz is six points behind the league leader, Porto. Benfica lost only one of the last eight matches, but some games still raise concerns. One of them is the most recent outing, when Benfica won 2-1 on the road against Nacional. The guests were behind until the 89th minute, but with two goals late in the second half, they recorded another victory.

Benfica's victory against Nacional was far from easy, but the head coach, Jose Mourinho, was still satisfied. He said, "When you win in the last few minutes, there's always that drama, but I think Benfica's performance overall was very good. We had a very good second half in Guimarães, but here we played well for the full 90 minutes. It's obviously a difficult victory, but it's a very, very, very well-deserved victory."

Benfica have some problems with missing players. Dodi Lukebakio, Nuno Felix, Bruma, Alexander Bah, and Henrique Araujo are injured and will not play on Friday in the Lisbon derby.

After two titles in the previous two seasons, Sporting CP are in the hunt for another Liga Portugal trophy. They are only three points behind Porto. Sporting CP are in fantastic form lately, with nine wins in the last ten matches across all competitions. In the most recent outing, Sporting CP won 4-0 at home against Estrela. The home side ended the match with xG of 2.36, while the guests had only 0.10, so Rui Borges' team easily secured all three points.

Sporting CP's head coach, Rui Borges, was thrilled after an easy win against Estrela. He commented, "It's a good performance that has been consistent and with quality. It's difficult to say if it's the best, because we had a fantastic start to the season. We are growing more and more -especially on the defensive side. The dynamics between the players are getting better and better, and you see that with every game that goes by."

Daniel Braganca, Zeno Debast, Fotis Ioannidis, and Nuno Santos are injured and will not play on Friday at Estadio da Luz.