Sporting Lisbon vs Kairat Almaty Prediction & Picks - Champions League

Prediction published on 9/18/25, 11:01 AM  by Erik Gibbs in Champions League Picks

Sporting CP come into their upcoming game against Kairat Almaty with a mixed but mostly positive league form in Portugal. They started the Primeira Liga with an explosive 6–0 win over Arouca, followed by a 4–1 victory at Nacional, showing their firepower upfront. Their only blemish so far was a tough 2–1 loss at Porto (the national super cup), but they have otherwise looked sharp offensively.

Overall, their record is something like two wins and a loss. The Lions are scoring freely at home, and their defense has been mostly sound except against the very top teams. Morale is high after thrashing opponents and with a full roster. The team is known to build attacks through wide play and has midfielders who can chip in with goals.

Kairat Almaty, the Kazakh champions, have dominated domestically – they are atop their league – and advanced through Champions League qualifying rounds. Their winter-experiment signings are mostly paying off. Kairat’s form in competitive matches has been solid: they won the domestic Super Cup and conceded very few goals in qualifiers.

At home they score plenty; on the road they tend to play cautiously. However, their pool included heavyweights like Porto and Celtic in qualifiers, and Kairat were eliminated by both on close margins. In the domestic league they are unbeaten (something like 1–0–0 in first match, scoring goals with top scorer Dastan Satpaev). Overall, Kairat look sharp against smaller clubs but less tested against European teams.