Two perennial Champions League sides, FC Porto and Manchester City, meet in this thrilling opening matchday clash. Real Madrid vs. Inter might be the more high-powered contest on Tuesday, but for my money, this match offers just as much drama and intrigue.
FC Porto
The host team are in remarkable form at the moment.
They’re firmly on top of the Liga Portugal standings with a five-game winning streak and only one goal conceded so far.
Porto is always strong, but this start is impressive given their summer transfer activity. Fourteen players departed earning the club just over $54M. Hot youth prospect Rodrigo Mora took off for AS Roma in an unusual deal. Porto retain 50% of the teenager’s rights which Roma have first right-of-refusal on, but they’ve already pocketed nearly $30M and should make more as Mora develops. That’s shrewd business. Other big leaves were: veteran defender Thiago Silva, who returned to Fluminense for a third time on a free, and 22 year-old striker Deniz Gül, who signed with Galatasaray in his native Turkey for $11.5M.
Replacing Silva is former Arsenal center back Jakob Kiwior, whom Porto picked up for just under $20M. Other notable arrivals include Gabriel Mec, an 18 year-old winger from Grêmio signed for $13M, and Korean international attacker In-beom Hwang, who moved from Feyenoord for just over $5M. Some prominent loanees are midfielder Seko Fofana from Rennes and forward Santiago Giménez from AC Milan. Both have already featured in one match for the Dragões.
Manchester City
The blue Manchester team are also occupying the top position of the Premier League with a perfect nine points from three matches. But despite those glossy optics, Manchester City’s actual performances haven’t been great. True, they totally dominated Crystal Palace in a 4-1 win, but at times the Eagles were able to expose weaknesses in the City backline. Against Bournemouth, City had to rely on a pair of late goals, the last of which was deep into stoppage time. And on Saturday, despite having a PL-high 78% possession, Manchester only defeated Coventry City by 1 goal to nil. Pundits decried their somewhat lackadaisical effort and absent killing instinct; two traits they’ll need in abundance if they want to leave Porto with full points.
Of course, Manchester City is operating without Pep Guardiola for the first time in a decade. His former assistant Enzo Maresca is off to a fine start but you can tell that everything is not firing on all cylinders. Longtime midfield general Rodri left to join Barcelona, part of a massive exodus of 19 players leaving the club. Winger Savinho/Sávio’s move to Tottenham earned over $133M, and despite an influx of around $515M they’re still negative on the books, having dropped $600M on nine inbound players:
- Enzo Fernández (Chelsea) $165M
- Elliot Anderson (Nott’m Forest) $153M
- Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille) $108M
- Iliman Ndiaye (Everton) $80M
- Allan (Palmeiras) $42.6M
- Mathys Detourbet (Troyes) $28.4M
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester) $13.3M
- Pierce Charles (Sheff Wed) $4M
- Gerónimo Rulli (Marseille) $2.3M
Anderson and Ndiaye have been regular starters; Bouaddi is getting minutes off the bench. Fernández got 76 minutes in his debut Saturday.
History
Despite their pedigree in this competition, these two sides have only met four times in their history. Unsurprisingly, Manchester City holds the edge with three wins and a draw, which was a 0-0 affair at the Estádio Do Dragão back in 2020.
Projected Lineups
FC Porto should be bringing all the big guns out. Getting a win at home in the Champions League opener would make quite a statement, both for the supporters and the neutral observers out there. Francisco Farioli has four players out to injury (Zaidu Sanusi, Vasco Sousa, Samuel Aghehowa and Oscar Pietuszewski) but otherwise should field his usual starting XI.
Costa;
Moura, Pérez, Kiwior, Costa;
Veiga, Rosario, Hwang;
Pepê, Giménez, Gomes
Manchester City’s strategy might be different. Maresca said this after the narrow win over Coventry: “We saw today with Ayyoub [Bouaddi], [Ryan] McAidoo, Iliman Ndiaye, they haven’t played in Champions League but they need to start, so on Tuesday they are going to start to get minutes in the Champions League.” Take all that with a grain of salt, of course. Maresca knows how bright the spotlight will be on this match; he doesn’t want to stumble.
Donnarumma;
Khusanov, Días, Guéhi, Gvardiol;
Anderson, Fernández;
Semenyo, Cherki, Ndiaye;
Haaland
The Hooligan Take
It won’t be a walk in the park, but Manchester City will exit Porto as the winners. Any rational pundit can’t bet against Erling Haaland, who’s shattered all the scoring records the for competition with 57 goals in 58 matches.
FC Porto 1 – 3 Manchester City
