Next Tuesday, 30th of September 2014, José Mourinho’s Chelsea will visit Lisbon to measure forces with Sporting at Estádio José Alvalade for round two of this season’s UEFA Champions League tournament, on a match that will mark the return of the Special One to his homeland.

Chelsea started their participation at the Champions League this season on a slow pace and conceded an unexpected home draw against Schalke 04, who had been struggling on domestic competitions before that match. The Blues’ approach to the match was somehow “arrogant” and Fàbregas’ early goal gave them the comfort that they thought they were looking for. Nevertheless, Schalke 04 proved that one cannot take anything for granted as they leveled the score by Huntelaar during the second-half, causing Chelsea a major upset.

The Blues managed to bounce back and after their 1-1 draw at Etihad Stadium last weekend, they returned to wins as they smashed Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge last Saturday by 3-0. Despite the three goal win, it wasn’t by any means an easy match for Chelsea, but once again, an early goal (this time scored by Oscar) offered the Blues an apparent control of the match.

The Brazilian born Spanish international Diego Costa scored again for his new team but Mourinho is worried about his physical condition despite his excellent goal streak. Diego Costa is in doubt for the next Tuesday’s match at Lisbon but the Portuguese boss stated at the end of the match that he is counting on him.

As for Sporting, the historical Portuguese club didn’t start the Champions League campaign on the best of forms as they allowed a last minute equalizer on their visit to Slovenia, where they went head-to-head with Maribor.

Sporting returned to the Champions League this season after a long absence and they were seconds away from celebrating their win when the Brazilian centre back Mauricio missed an easy ball and allowed Luka Zahovic, who interestingly enough was born in Portugal, to level the score.

Sporting’s domestic career has been quite consistent and last Friday they forced the former European Champions FC Porto to a draw when both sides measured forces at Alvalade.

The Portuguese side manager, Marco Silva, will have all his players at his disposal for the match, as there aren’t any names on the injury list by now.

Despite the fact that Sporting will be playing at home in front of their enthusiastic supporters, Chelsea are firm favourites to win the match and José Mourinho will certainly do everything he can to clinch a win on his return to his motherland.

Sporting

Stats: W-1 L-0 D-4

Recent Form - DWDDD

Chelsea

Stats: W-3 L-0 D-2

Recent Form - WWDDW

Possible Line-ups

Sporting (4-3-3)  - Rui Patricio - Cedric - Mauricio - Sarr - J. Silva - William Carvalho - Adrien Silva - João Mário - Nani - Carrillo - Slimani

Chelsea (4-3-3) – Courtois - Ivanovic - Terry - Cahill - Filipe Luis - Matic - Fàbregas - Oscar - Willian - Hazard - Diego Costa

Prediction

Sporting 1 Chelsea 3