UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2018/19 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS José Alvalade - Lisbon Thursday 20 September 2018 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Sporting Clube de Qarabağ FK Portugal Group E - Matchday 1 Last updated 22/02/2019 13:54CET Previous meetings 2 Match background 3 Team facts 4 Squad list 6 Fixtures and results 8 Match-by-match lineups 11 Match officials 13 Legend 14 1 Sporting Clube de Portugal - Qarabağ FK Thursday 20 September 2018 - 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Match press kit José Alvalade, Lisbon Previous meetings Head to Head No UEFA competition matches have been played between these two teams Sporting Clube de Portugal - Record versus clubs from opponents' country Sporting Clube de Portugal have not played against a club from their opponents' country Qarabağ FK - Record versus clubs from opponents' country Qarabağ FK have not played against a club from their opponents' country 2 Sporting Clube de Portugal - Qarabağ FK Thursday 20 September 2018 - 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Match press kit José Alvalade, Lisbon Match background Last season's UEFA Europa League quarter-finalists Sporting CP begin their 2018/19 European campaign with a home fixture against a Qarabağ side with four qualifying ties already under their belt since they entered the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round back in July. Previous meetings • Both clubs are in uncharted territory, with Sporting taking on a team from Azerbaijan for the first time and Qarabağ making their maiden trip to Portugal. Indeed, this the first meeting in UEFA competition between any clubs from the two countries. Form guide Sporting • Sporting finished third in the 2017/18 Portuguese Liga. They suffered a shock 2-1 defeat to Aves in the Portuguese Cup final, but nevertheless claimed a place in the UEFA Europa League group stage. • The Lisbon club have been regular participants in the UEFA Europa League since its inception in 2009/10, featuring in the competition proper in seven previous seasons and the group stage in five of those, most recently in 2015/16. Semi-finalists in 2011/12, when they won all eight home fixtures, they reached the quarter-finals last season after transferring from the UEFA Champions League group stage. • Sporting have only ever lost once at home in the UEFA Europa League group stage, but that was on matchday one in 2015/16, when they went down 1-3 in Lisbon to Lokomotiv Moskva. Their overall record is W10 D4 L1. Qarabağ • Champions of Azerbaijan for the fifth successive year in 2017/18, Qarabağ are also competing in a UEFA group stage for the fifth season running, three appearances in the UEFA Europa League preceding last season's landmark UEFA Champions League adventure. BATE Borisov blocked their route back into that competition this season, in the third qualifying round, but a UEFA Europa League play-off victory against FC Sheriff kept that sequence of group stage appearances going. • Qarabağ have never extended a European campaign into the spring. Their away record in the UEFA Europa League group stage is W2 D1 L6, the two victories against Dnipro in 2014/15 (1-0) and PAOK in 2016/17 (1-0). • Qarabağ have scored just two away goals in four European encounters this term but have lost only one of them – the most recent, against Sheriff (0-1). Links and trivia • Qarabağ's Bulgarian midfielder Simeon Slavchev was on Sporting's books from 2014 to 2018 but did not play a single match for the first team, spending most of that time out on loan. • Qarabağ's Polish defender Jakub Rzeźniczak played four European matches against Sporting for Legia Warszawa – in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32 and 2016/17 UEFA Champions League group stage – while Sporting's Dutch striker Luc Castaignos played for FC Twente against Qarabağ in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League play-offs, scoring in the home leg as Qarabağ went through on away goals. The coaches • A UEFA Cup runner-up as Sporting CP coach in 2004/05, José Peseiro returned to the club in the summer of 2018 as the replacement for Jorge Jesus. A lower-league forward, he was Carlos Queiroz's assistant at Real Madrid prior to his first spell at Sporting and later took charge of several European and Middle Eastern clubs as well as coaching the Saudi Arabia national side from 2009–11. His last European involvement was with Braga in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League. • Qarabağ coach Gurban Gurbanov is Azerbaijan's highest-scoring international with 12 goals in 64 matches. While he regularly changed club as a player, he celebrated ten years as head coach of Qarabağ in August 2018, during which time he has led the club to five successive national league titles, four Azerbaijani Cups and regular European group stage involvement, including a maiden UEFA Champions League adventure in 2017/18. He has doubled up as the coach of Azerbaijan since November 2017. 3 Sporting Clube de Portugal - Qarabağ FK Thursday 20 September 2018 - 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Match press kit José Alvalade, Lisbon Team facts Sporting Clube de Portugal Formed: 1906 Nickname: Leões (Lions) UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) • UEFA Cup: (2005) • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1964 Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) League title: 18 (2002) Portuguese Cup: 16 (2015) Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup unless indicated otherwise) 2017/18: quarter-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage) 2016/17: UEFA Champions League group stage 2015/16: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs) 2014/15: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage) 2013/14: did not take part in UEFA competition 2012/13: group stage 2011/12: semi-finals 2010/11: round of 32 2009/10: round of 16 (having transferred from the UEFA Champions League play-offs) 2008/09: UEFA Champions League round of 16 Records UEFA club competition • Biggest home win 16-1: Sporting CP v APOEL 13/11/63, European Cup Winners' Cup second round first leg • Biggest away win 0-9: ÍA Akranes v Sporting CP 17/09/86, UEFA Cup first round first leg • Heaviest home defeat 0-5: Sporting CP v Bayern München 25/02/09, UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg • Heaviest away defeat 7-1: Bayern München v Sporting CP 10/03/09, UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup • Biggest home win 7-0: Sporting CP v Politehnica Timisoara 24/10/90, second round first leg • Biggest away win 0-9: ÍA Akranes v Sporting CP (see above) • Heaviest home defeat 0-3: Sporting CP v Gençlerbirligi 27/11/03, second round second leg • Heaviest away defeat 5-0: Celtic v Sporting CP 02/11/83, second round second leg Qarabağ FK Formed: 1951 Nickname: Atlılar (The Horsemen) UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) • None Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) 4 Sporting Clube de Portugal - Qarabağ FK Thursday 20 September 2018 - 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Match press kit José Alvalade, Lisbon Domestic title: 6 (2018) Azerbaijani Cup: 6 (2017) Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup unless indicated otherwise) 2017/18: UEFA Champions League group stage 2016/17: group stage (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round) 2015/16: group stage (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round) 2014/15: group stage (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round) 2013/14: play-offs 2012/13: did not take part in UEFA club competition 2011/12: third qualifying round 2010/11: play-offs 2009/10: play-offs 2008/09: did not take part in UEFA club competition Records UEFA club competition • Biggest home win 5-0: Qarabağ v Samtredia 11/07/17, UEFA Champions League second qualifying round second leg • Biggest away win 0-4: Banga v Qarabağ 30/06/11, UEFA Europa League first qualifying round first leg • Heaviest home defeat 0-4 twice, most recently v Chelsea 22/11/17, UEFA Champions League group stage • Heaviest away defeat 6-0: three times, most recently v Chelsea 12/09/17, UEFA Champions League group stage UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup • Biggest home win 4-0: Qarabağ v Valletta 22/07/14, second qualifying round second leg • Biggest away win 0-4: Banga v Qarabağ (see above) • Heaviest home defeat 0-3: Qarabağ v Jablonec 30/07/97, first qualifying round second leg • Heaviest away defeat 5-0: Jablonec v Qarabağ 23/07/97, first qualifying round first leg 5 Sporting Clube de Portugal - Qarabağ FK Thursday 20 September 2018 - 21.00CET (20.00 local time) Match press kit José Alvalade, Lisbon Squad list Sporting Clube de Portugal Current season All-time UEL League UEL UEFA No. Player Nat. DoB Age D Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Goalkeepers 1 Emiliano Viviano ITA 01/12/1985 32 - - - - - - - 2 - 19 Romain Salin FRA 29/07/1984 34 - - - 4 - 6 - 10 - 40 Renan Ribeiro BRA 23/03/1990 28 - - - - - - - - - 81 Luís Maximiano POR 05/01/1999 19 - - - - - - - - - 99 Diogo Sousa POR 16/09/1998 20 - - - - - - - - - Defenders 4 Sebastián Coates URU 07/10/1990 27 - - - 4 - 8 1 21 1 5 Jefferson BRA 05/07/1988 30 - - - 4 - 10 - 19 1 6 André Pinto POR 05/10/1989 28 - - - 2 - 16 1 20 1 13 Stefan Ristovski MKD 12/02/1992 26 - - - 4 - 3 - 14 1 22 Jérémy Mathieu FRA 29/10/1983 34 - - - 2 - 41 3 84 4 63 Tiago Djaló POR 09/04/2000 18 - - - - - - - - - 75 Abdu Conté POR 24/03/1998 20 - - - - - - - - - 76 Bruno Gaspar POR 21/04/1993 25 - - - 1 - - - - - 95 Thierry Correia POR 09/03/1999 19 - - - - - - - - - Midfielders 8 Bruno Fernandes POR 08/09/1994 24 - - - 4 1 6 3 14 4 9 Marcos Acuña ARG 28/10/1991 26 - - - 4 - 6 - 13