Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Champions League clash between Porto and Club Brugge, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Porto host Club Brugge in Group B of the Champions League on Tuesday, with the hosts looking to bounce back from their dramatic defeat to Atletico Madrid last week.
Brugge, meanwhile, secured a 1-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen.
Match preview
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Having won his third domestic title with Porto in five seasons, Sergio Conceicao will be hoping to retain the Portuguese Primeira Liga for the first time, while beating his best achievement of the quarter-final stage in the Champions League, which he reached with Porto in 2019 and 2021.
The fact that those two quarter-final runs in Europe's elite club competition coincided with the only years Porto have fallen short in the league under Conceicao illustrates how difficult it is for them to compete on both fronts.
The Dragons have already fallen three points behind Benfica - who have made a 100% start after six league games - in the league, while they lost their first Champions League match of the season after a dramatic finale against Atletico at the Metropolitano Stadium.
With the game looking likely to end as a stalemate, Mario Hermoso's deflected effort broke the deadlock in the first minute of injury-time, before the defender handled the ball in his own box to allow Mateus Uribe to level from the penalty spot. However, Antoine Griezmann arrived at the back post to meet Axel Witsel's flick-on and snatch a 111th-minute winner.
As such, Porto head into Tuesday's meeting with Brugge under pressure to secure a win, otherwise they could be facing an uphill battle to progress from Group B.
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Brugge, meanwhile, have become the dominant club in Belgium in recent years, winning the First Division in three successive seasons.
They are becoming regulars at the Champions League group stage, too, with this season's appearance their sixth in seven years. However, since the competition rebranded in 1992, they have never reached the knockout stages.
With Group B looking one of the weakest groups on paper, new head coach Carl Hoefkens may feel he could be the man to make modern history in that regard at a club with great pedigree in this competition in the past, having lost to Liverpool in the 1978 European Cup final.
Abakar Sylla's 42nd-minute header proved enough to beat Leverkusen at Jan Breyden Stadium last week, giving the Belgians an excellent platform to build from. At the very least, Hoefkens will wish to remain in Europe by finishing in the top three positions in the group, a fear which they have managed in three of their last four appearances in the tournament.
With 19 points from their first eight league games so far this season and six successive victories ahead of their trip to Portugal, Brugge appear to finding serious momentum under the former Stoke City defender's tutelage, and they may feel confident of causing an upset on Tuesday.
Porto Champions League form:
- L
Porto form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
Club Brugge Champions League form:
- W
Club Brugge form (all competitions):
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
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Porto will be without Mehdi Taremi for one match after the forward picked up a red card for a second bookable offence in the 81st-minute against Atletico.
Otavio was substituted with a suspected broken rib and will be out until after the international break, while Wilson Manafa is a long-term absentee with a knee injury.
Pepe pushed forward to right-midfield with Joao Mario coming into the starting XI at right-back in the weekend's 3-0 win against Chaves and the same is likely to happen here, with Evanilson and Antonio Martinez expected to be in tandem in attack.
Brugge, meanwhile, are missing some key players at present, with Noa Lang, Mats Rits, Clinton Mata and Tajon Buchanan all ruled out of the trip to Portugal due to injury.
Hoefkens could name the same starting XI which delivered a victory against Leverkusen, meaning former Benfica striker Roman Yaremchuk may have to be content with a place on the bench.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Mario, Pepe, Carmo, Sanusi; Pepe, Uribe, Eustaquio, Galeno; Evanilson, Martinez
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Odoi, Mechele, Sylla, Meijer; Nielsen, Onyedika, Vanaken; Olsen, Jutgla, Sowah
We say: Porto 2-1 Club Brugge
Brugge have the capabilities to push Porto all of the way on Tuesday, but we expect the hosts to get the job done with a marginal victory.
Both teams are missing a couple of key players but it should still be an interesting game nonetheless.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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