A place in the last 16 is still a possibility for both Sporting Lisbon and Eintracht Frankfurt ahead of Tuesday's crunch Champions League Group D showdown at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.

Ruben Amorim's side currently occupy the second and final knockout place in the rankings, with Frankfurt in third but only behind on head-to-head points.

Match preview

Having managed to cause his former club all sorts of problems in Lisbon a few weeks beforehand, ex-Tottenham Hotspur starlet Marcus Edwards returned to North London with a bang to put his side ahead in the first half last week, but technology rather than the 23-year-old ended up being Sporting's saviour.

A barely-awake Tottenham improved in the second half to level the match through Rodrigo Bentancur before Harry Kane thought he had won it for the Lilywhites with the last kick of the match, but VAR came to Sporting's rescue, with the England captain shown to have been in an offside position as the Portuguese outfit held on for a point.

Amorim's side remain one point behind Tottenham in the rankings, but no matter what transpires in the Lilywhites' showdown with Marseille, Sporting will be in the last 16 if they take at least a point away from Tuesday's game - their superior head-to-head record over Tottenham and Frankfurt will come into play if all three sides finish on eight points.

Amorim did oversee a shock 1-0 loss to Arouca at the weekend - their third defeat in a dismal run that has seen the Lions win just one of their last six matches in all competitions - but changes were aplenty with the Champions League in mind.

Defensive absentees have largely contributed to the hosts' nine-game run without a clean sheet in all competitions, and Sporting head into Tuesday's clash having failed to win any of their last three Champions League matches - thanks in no small part to an absence of discipline in their pair of defeats to Marseille, receiving three red cards in the space of those two games.

Knowing that defeat would spell the end of their chances of making into the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time ever, Frankfurt pulled out all the stops against Marseille to prevail 2-1 after a frenetic first half and keep their continental dream alive for a little bit longer.

Randal Kolo Muani and Daichi Kamada were on target either side of Matteo Guendouzi's leveller in a hugely-important 2-1 win for the Europa League champions, who can remarkably still finish first in the group if results go in their favour.

However, Die Adler can only progress to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a win at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, but even if they lose, the consolation prize of Europa League football will be theirs if Marseille cannot get the better of Tottenham.

As was possibly the case with Sporting's most recent domestic game, the Champions League may have been playing on the minds of Glasner's men in their 2-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund in Saturday's Bundesliga clash, which ended their four-game winning run in all tournaments but marked a sixth match in a row with at least one goal for Frankfurt.

In order to seal progress to the last 16 of the Champions League, Frankfurt must win back-to-back games in Europe's top competition for only the second time in their history - also doing so in the 1959-60 European Cup - but Sporting came away from the Deutsche Bank Park with a 3-0 win in September and will hardly be in a charitable mood this week.

Team News

Sporting duo Pedro Goncalves and Ricardo Esgaio have both served their time on the naughty step and will return here after missing the draw with Tottenham through suspension, but only the former can expect to be guaranteed a start this week.

Daniel Braganca and Luis Neto are still down with ligament and knee injuries respectively, and Amorim also lost Paulinho and Hidemasa Morita prior to the weekend's loss to Arouca. While the former has trained, Morita is set to miss out, so 20-year-old Sotiris Alexandropoulos may be required in the engine room.

The likes of Manuel Ugarte, Pedro Porro, Nuno Santos and Edwards were all benched at the weekend and will return to a familiar-looking Sporting side here, as Arthur Gomes and Rochinha make way.

Similarly, Frankfurt have a player of their own returning from a European ban in Tuta, who missed the win over Marseille after seeing red against Tottenham, and he already forced Hrvoje Smolcic out of the three-man rearguard at the weekend.

Christopher Lenz (hip) and Makoto Hasebe (knee) are definite absentees for the visitors, but Ansgar Knauff was back in training prior to the defeat to Dortmund and will hope to get up to speed in time to start this crucial match.

Luca Pellegrini will expect to make his first Champions League start on the left in the absence of Lenz, who sustained his injury in the win over Marseille, while Djibril Sow is in line to come back in for Sebastian Rode in the middle.

Sporting Lisbon possible starting lineup:
Adan; Inacio, Coates, Reis; Porro, Alexandropoulos, Ugarte, Santos; Trincao, Edwards, Goncalves

Eintracht Frankfurt possible starting lineup:
Trapp; Jakic, Ndicka, Tuta; Knauff, Sow, Kamada, Pellegrini; Gotze, Lindstrom; Kolo Muani

We say: Sporting Lisbon 2-1 Eintracht Frankfurt

Neither side should hold back on the attacking front given what is at stake this week, and Sporting have always looked a threat going forward in Europe this term - at least when they have kept all 11 men on the field.

Amorim's side have not exactly defined consistency this season and could still be caught out by a Frankfurt outfit that have had no issues finding the back of the net recently, but with the vociferous home crowd behind them, we expect the Portuguese outfit to progress as Frankfurt face a nervous wait to learn whether they will defend their Europa League crown.

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