(Football news) This will be the teams’ first encounter in more than ten years; in their previous encounter in Primeira Liga in April of 2012, Ruben Amorim’s team gained a well-deserved 1-0 victory. 

For the first time since November, Uniao de Leiria was unable to win back-to-back games in the Segunda Liga as they were only able to draw 1-1 with Porto ‘B’ when the teams met last Saturday.

Abraham Marcus’ goal in the 19th minute gave Antonio Folha’s team the lead, but 35-year-old defender Bura came up big for the home team when he scored just before halftime to force a share of the spoils.

Prior to that, Uniao de Leiria snapped their run of five consecutive league games without a win on January 19, when they scraped a 1-0 victory over Benfica ‘B’, courtesy of a second-half effort from Tiago Ferreira.

Vasco Costa’s side, who are currently 13th in the Segunda Liga table, now turn their attention to the Taca de Portugal, where they have enjoyed a superb campaign, brushing aside Pedrogao, Academico Viseu, Malveira and Maritimo to reach the quarter-finals.

Having kicked off their cup quest with a 12-0 thrashing of Pedrogao on September 9, Uniao de Leiria picked up a 3-1 victory over Academico Viseu in the second round on October 21, four weeks before cruising to a 5-0 home victory over Malveira.

In the fifth round, they passed the Maritimo test with flying colours as they secured a 3-0 victory at the Estadio do Maritimo, with Jair da Silva, Valdir and Lucho Vega getting on the scoresheet to cap off a solid team performance.

Os Lis’ toughest cup challenge awaits them on Wednesday as they take on a star-studded Sporting Lisbon side, who are unbeaten in each of their last six encounters, claiming four wins and two draws since a 1-0 loss in December 2009.

While Uniao de Leiria will be looking to end this run and cause arguably the biggest upset of the competition, they have struggled to get going at home, where they are without a win in four consecutive games, losing once and picking up three draws since December.

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