A clash of Lions at the Jose Alvalade

Athletic Club will soon travel to Lisbon where on Saturday, July 27, at 20:30 CEST, they will take on Sporting Clube de Portugal in a pre-season friendly at the Estadio José Alvalade.

This fixture is part of Sporting CP's 'Five Violins Trophy'. Created in 2012, the pre-season duel is held every year at the Estadio José Alvalade and pays tribute to Jesus Correia, Vasques, Albano, Peyroteo and José Travassos, Sporting CP's attacking quintet between 1946 and 1949, who became known as the ‘Five Violins’ due the harmony they displayed on the pitch.

So far, the Lisbon side have won eight editions and  Empoli, Sevilla FC and Valencia CF are the only visiting teams that have managed to take the trophy.

Lisbon is Portugal's capital and largest city. Situated at the mouth of the River Tagus, it has more than half a million inhabitants and its metropolitan area is home to nearly three million people.

Athletic Club and Sporting Clube de Portugal

The Lions of Bilbao and Portugal are old acquaintances. In addition to facing each other in two Europa League ties, on more than one occasion they have organised summer friendlies.

The best known clash, and the one Athleticzales have fond memories of, came in the 2011/2012 season, when the two teams met in the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Jon Aurtenetxe gave Los Rojiblancos the lead in the first half, but the home side hit back twice in the second 45 to leave the tie wide open.

In the memorable second leg, with a packed San Mamés, it took until the 88th minute for Marcelo Bielsa's side to score the goal they needed to send Athletic Club into a second European final.

The previous European meeting was a two-legged tie in the 1985/86 season. Athletic were 2-0 victors in the first match thanks to goals from Manu Sarabia and Julio Salinas, but the Lisbon outfit went through after a convincing 3-0 win in the second leg.

Apart from these official matches, the Portuguese and the Basques have played a total of seven friendlies: three in Lisbon, three at San Mamés and one at El Vivero in Badajoz. The Lions record in those matches is two wins, four draws and one defeat.

Current Portuguese champions

The Green and Whites have become league champions again after a three-year wait. Three players stand out amongst Ruben Amorim's squad: Swedish international striker Viktor Einar Gyökeres - the league's top scorer with 29 goals plus another 14 in other competitions - and Portuguese players Pedro Gonçalves and Trincão, who scored 18 and ten goals respectively last season.

What's more, Morten Hjulmand's control in midfield, the assured Gonçalo Inácio in defence and the emergence of Eduardo Quaresma, a talent from their youth academy, were crucial to Portugal's Lions regaining the Portuguese league title for the first time in three years.

Sporting Clube de Portugal picked up a total of 90 points, ten more than second-placed SL Benfica, their Lisbon neighbours and eternal rivals.

The history of Sporting Clube de Portugal

Sporting CP are third most successful team in Portuguese history, with a total of 56 trophies. They have won the Liga Primeira 24 times (including four Portuguese Championships), the Portuguese Cup 17 times, nine Portuguest Super Cups, four League Cups, one Empire Cup and one European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963/64. 

Like Athletic Club in LaLiga, the Lions of Portugal have never been relegated. They are considered one of the ‘Três Grandes’ along with SL Benfica and FC Porto, the three teams with the most titles.

The club was founded in 1906 and the stadium is named after the main founder, the Viscount of Alvalade, Jose Alvalade. Sporting CP have teams in numerous sports and is the club with the most medals won by its athletes at the Olympic Games, and the second most titles won in all the sports it plays or has played, behind only Fútbol Club Barcelona.

Moreover, the Portuguese team's motto also hints at what Athletic represents in the Basque Country: ‘effort, dedication, devotion and glory’.

A prolific youth academy

Sporting Clube de Portugal's academy is considered one of the best in the world. The club has produced several players that have had huge impacts on the sport, such as: Cristiano Ronaldo, Ricardo Quaresma, Luís Figo, Paulo Futre, Nani, Simão, João Moutinho and Rui Patrício, among many others.

José Alvalade, a top-class stadium

Sporting CP's home has a capacity of around 50,000 spectators and was inaugurated on 6 August 2003. It is located in the centre of a sports and leisure complex called Alvalade XXI.

It was built for Euro 2004, replacing the adjacent old Alvalade stadium. It is the third largest stadium in Portugal after Estádio da Luz and Estádio do Dragão and is classified by UEFA as an elite stadium (category 4), which allows it to host European finals, such as the 2005 UEFA Cup Final.