Sporting CP vs Monaco prediction 25.07.2026 | Club Friendly

Last year, Sporting CP had a solid season but eventually finished trophyless. They finished 2nd in Liga Portugal, six points behind FC Porto. However, with a 25-7-2 record, we can safely say that would be enough in most seasons to win the title. So, they cannot be too unhappy with their performance. However, they missed a big opportunity to win the Taça de Portugal title as they lost to Torreense in the final after extra time. 

Throughout the offseason, the club has been pretty active, with several players leaving and arriving. The latest addition to the team is Ibrahima Ba, a central defender who arrived from Famalicao for 21.5 million euros. 

The players who participated in the previous World Cup mostly missed the friendly matches to get some extra rest: Rui Silva, Goncalo Inacio, Ousmane Diomande, and Luis Suárez. Maxi Araújo played limited minutes. It is still undecided whether we will see those players in this game, but Sporting proved they are capable of winning these friendlies even with a heavily rotated squad.

After finishing 2nd and 3rd in the 2023/24 and 24/25 seasons, Monaco had a pretty bad campaign last year. They finished 7th in Ligue 1, barely securing Europe (Conference League). To be fair, they were solid in the Champions League, reaching the 1/16 Finals, where PSG eventually eliminated them on a 5-4 aggregate.

During the offseason, the club lost their first- and second-best left full-backs (Caio Henrique and Kassoum Outtara) and replaced them with Nazinho, who arrived from Cercle Brugge. Besides him, Ansu Fati also arrived at the club, along with central defender Sadibou Sane.

Maghnes Akliouche, Denis Zakaria, Lamine Cmaara, Folarin Balogun, Takumi Minamino, and Stanis Idumbo missed the previous game and will most likely remain sidelined.