Porto will face Barcelona on the second group stage matchday of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League
Porto and Barcelona, both looking for back-to-back wins in Champions League Group H, meet on Wednesday evening at the Estadio do Dragao.
Sergio Conceicao’s side defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in their continental debut, while the Spanish champions destroyed Royal Antwerp with a five-star effort.
The 46,000-strong crowd at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion got their money’s worth in the first half of Porto’s match against Shakhtar Donetsk two weeks ago, as the two Group F hopes met in Germany amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the Ukrainian outfit’s homeland.
Within 30 minutes of kickoff, Galeno’s early opener was canceled out by a Kevin Kelsy header, but Shakhtar were only level for two minutes before Galeno capitalized on a defensive error to restore his side’s lead before Mehdi Taremi picked out the bottom corner to complete the rout.
Porto have also won their last three Champions League games at the Estadio do Dragao, but they are still looking for their first home clean sheet of the season, and Barcelona needed no second invitation to exploit defensive flaws on matchday one.
On the other side, Barcelona has won their last four encounters with Porto, but it has been more than a decade since the two teams last met in a meaningful match, with La Blaugrana winning 2-0 in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup due to goals from Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas.
Match Details
Date: Thursday, October 5
Time: 12:30 AM IST
Location: Estádio do Dragão
TV: Sony Ten Network (India)
Live Stream: Sony LIV, Jio TV (India)
Lineup Prediction
Porto possible starting lineup: Costa; Mario, Cardoso, Carmo, Wendell; Eustaquio, Varela; Franco, Jaime, Galeno; Taremi
Barcelona possible starting lineup: Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Kounde, Christensen, Balde; Gavi, Romeu, Gundogan; Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix
Dream11
Goalkeeper – Costa
Defenders – Cancelo, Christensen, Wendell, Mario
Midfielders – Gundogan, Gavi, Varela
Attackers – Taremi, Lewandowski, Felix
