Sporting vs Arsenal LIVE: Latest score and updates as Rice and Gabriel start in Champions League quarter-final – UK Times

Passed fit after missing the weekend defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup, Declan Rice is raring to go in Lisbon.

The Arsenal manager says Gyokeres will greatly appreciate playing at this stage of the competition.

“Obviously, he’s full of gratitude for his time here,” he said of the striker’s spell at Sporting. “The way he talks about the club, the players, the staff, everybody around the club. The experience that he had, how important that part of his journey in Sporting has been.

“And now it’s Arsenal, it’s a quarter-final of the Champions League, he’s never played at this level in the competition and obviously you can imagine what it means to him. “

Sporting’s Rui Borges has been talking to Sport TV.

“They’re good, but so are we.,” he says. “There are only three teams better than us at set-pieces: Arsenal, Dortmund and Inter. It’s about believing in what we do, we’ve been competent. We won’t stray too far from what we’ve been doing.”

It is anticipated Gyokeres, 27, will receive a hostile reception on his comeback, but Borges said: “He is a great player, and I am sure he will be welcomed by everyone because he marked the history of Sporting, and he deserves this acknowledgement.

“I always try to be balanced, and I try to understand everyone. He had the ambition, and after talking to the management, they came to an understanding so ultimately everything that happened was correct for both sides; both Sporting and the player got what they wanted. He wanted to take that step in his career and we respect that.

“Players will change, but the club stays the same, and Sporting will go on winning. I wish him (Gyokeres) all the best and I am sure he will be very welcome here because the admiration we have for him is great.”

Live coverage of tonight’s other quarter-final, between Trent and Jude’s Real and Kane’s Bayern, can be read right here.

The rain is beginning to fall heavily in Lisbon where Alan Shearer, under a large umbrella, is currently dissecting Gyokeres’ recent uptick in form. “Don’t be surprised again if he hits the back of the net tonight,” the former Newcastle man says.

Here is how the hosts will line-up.

Sporting XI: Silva; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Morita, Simoes; Catamo, Trincao, Goncalves; Suarez.

Going off the TV images, Viktor Gyokeres appears to have received a warm welcome from the handful of Sporting fans who have made their way into the ground very early.

This is the team named by Mikel Arteta this evening.

Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Zubimendi, Odegaard; Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard.