Portugal’s champions Sporting Lisbon, opponents of FC Bayern on Tuesday in the Champions League, are respected worldwide for their excellent youth work. However, Cristiano Ronaldo’s training club found its current top scorer in Spain’s second division: Luis Suarez came from Andalusia before the season, from UD Almeria.
Sporting Lisbon’s training ground in rural Alcochete, around an hour from Lisbon, is undoubtedly getting old. A gatekeeper has to lift a rusty barrier to the visitor’s car entrance; the grass is growing out of joints on the paths between the academy’s training areas.
But: Top football is everywhere here. In the dining room there are pictures of stars trained at Sporting such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Joao Moutinho and Nani – the club is known worldwide for its first-class training work. Which Eric Dier was once able to enjoy. The former Bayern defender spent most of his youth at Sporting and is still in awe today: “Sporting’s training is holistic and has long been a role model for others. It is no coincidence that so many stars have emerged from there.”says the Brit in an interview with “fcbayern.com”.
Training at the highest level
Now Sporting, who snatched the championship from rivals Benfica and FC Porto last season, are turning up their talent pool at FC Bayern. With the left rail player Pedro Goncalves, director Francisco Trincao and central defender Goncalo Inacio, Sporting currently has three key players and Portuguese national players in the team, in addition to national goalkeeper Rui Silva, who come from their own youth team.
But of course: If you want to play an international role, you can’t just rely on talented homegrown players. And that’s what Sporting wants, even if the business principle is still to finance the club through the regular sale of the greatest talents.
Experience from outside
Experience is often brought in from outside. And this is where Luis Suarez comes into play. The 28-year-old Colombian, who should not be confused with Messi’s Uruguayan friend of the same name, came to Sporting from Spanish second division club UD Almeria before the start of the season.
The South American, who now forms a feared strike duo in the Colombian national team alongside Bayern’s Luis Diaz, hit Lisbon like a comet. He has already scored nine times in 13 games in the league, plus two goals in the Champions League. Sporting is currently in eighth place with three wins, one draw and one defeat.
Remarkable Champions League record
Marseille (2:1), the Kazakh champions Almaty (4:1) and most recently FC Brugge (3:0) were beaten, while coach Rui Borges’ team scored 1:1 at Juve. Only in Naples (1:2) have they had to bow so far. It’s not just the international fan scene that has been impressed by Sporting’s performances so far. Referee Tobias Stieler, who officiated Sporting in the match against Bruges, was also impressed by the performance of the Portuguese double winner in 2024/25.
Successful with Sporting: Coach Rui Borges
Bayern manager Max Eberl revealed this at the weekend when he spoke to the referee on the sidelines of the Bayern game in Stuttgart: “Sporting has a very, very good team. To be honest, I spoke to the referee about it because Mr. Stieler had refereed Sporting against Brugge. And he already said that they are a very, very good team.”said Eberl to the “Frankfurter Neue Presse”. The Bayern manager added: “We know the games against Benfica, it won’t be any different against Sporting.”
Suarez – the playful type
Bayern will have to watch out for Suarez the most. Sporting brought him in, who scored 41 goals in 79 games in Spain’s second division over the past two seasons, as a replacement for double goalscorer Viktor Gyökeres. The Swede was transferred to Arsenal FC for around 65 million euros in the summer after an outstanding season at Sporting.
Sporting needed a replacement and decided on a different type of player: While Gyökeres was tall, powerful and powerful, Suarez is more of a playful, technically finer player with a lot of experience. Sporting, which is traditionally transparent with transfer fees, paid 22.5 million euros for the attacker, who has previously been in France, England and Spain.
“I would like to finally win something big”
In Sporting’s history, only two professionals have been more expensive. In 2021, the club paid 24.5 million euros to Famalicão for the services of Manuel Ugarte and in 2023, 24 million euros went to Coventry for Gyökeres – both were sold for a significant profit. This is perhaps to be expected from Suarez too.
But first the Colombian would like to celebrate success with Sporting. “I came here to finally win something big”he had said during his introduction. A win at Bayern would be a step towards that.