The draw for the Champions League pitted us against FC Porto in the last-16 - a club with huge pedigree at home and in Europe.
But how much do you know about the Portuguese giants? We’ve pulled together a handy guide to give you the full lowdown on our opponents.
The history
Porto were formed in 1893 and are the second most decorated team in the country, with 84 major honours. The first arrived in 1911 in the form of the North Portugal championship, and 11 years later they became the first national champions, while they also were the inaugural winners of the Primeira Liga in 1935.
After further successes in the 1930s, just four league titles would arrive across the next 45 years but the late 1980s would be the start of a period of huge success. Spearheaded by the goals of legendary striker Fernando Gomes, Porto reached the 1984 European Cup final and then went all the way in 1987 by beating Bayern Munich.
Their dominance continued into the 1990s and 2000s as they won 14 titles, including a record five in a row between 1994 and 1999, while Jose Mourinho’s arrival as manager in 2002 saw them become a European force again as they won the 2003 UEFA Cup, and the following season captured the Champions League when they got the better of Monaco in the final.
Further European success came in 2011 when they lifted the Europa League during an undefeated league season, a feat they repeated in 2012/13. Recent years have seen them lift three of the last six championships, and they recorded a domestic cup treble last season but just missed out on a historic quadruple by two points to Benfica.
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The stadium
The Estadio do Dragao was built as part of Portugal’s successful bid to host Euro 2004, and is named after the dragon that appears on the club crest and city’s coat of arms. It hosted its first game in November 2003 when Barcelona visited for a friendly, notable for Lionel Messi’s first appearance for the Catalan club.
It has a capacity of 50,033 and has regularly hosted Portugal international matches, and the opening game of Euro 2004 as well as a semi-final. It was also the stand-in venue for the 2021 Champions League final when Kai Havertz netted the only goal of the game to win the trophy for Chelsea against Manchester City.
The manager
Former Porto and Portugal winger Sergio Conceicao has been in charge of the Dragons for the past five seasons, and has enjoyed plenty of success with 10 major honours claimed so far, making him the second most decorated manager in Portuguese league history.
His playing career was a nomadic one, playing for 11 clubs across 17 years but never reaching 100 appearances for any. That included turning out for Parma, Inter Milan and a notable spell at Lazio where he won Serie A and a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, plus two stints at Porto where he claimed three championships.
In 2012 he began his managerial career with Olhanense in the Portuguese top-flight, and would later have spells with Academica, Braga, Vitoria Guimaraes and Nantes before returning to Porto. He ended a five-year wait for a title in his first campaign, and in 2020 he achieved a league and cup double. He has since gone on to manage over 350 Porto games - a club record.
The squad
Porto are captained by legendary centre-back Pepe, who is in his second spell with the club after initially leaving in 2007 for Real Madrid. This season became the oldest outfield player in Champions League history, and looks set to extend that record having turned 41 a fortnight ago.
The goals this season have come from uncapped Brazilian striker Evanilson who has 21 in 32 matches, while fellow countryman Galeno - who scored the only goal of the game when we met in the first leg - has chipped in with 13 including five in his last five outings,
Other forward options include Iranian hitman Mehdi Taremi who won last season’s Primeira Liga Golden Boot, Brazilian Pepe who is an international teammate of our trio of Gabriels, Toni Martinez who was on West Ham United’s books and spent time on loan at Oxford United, and Danny Namaso, formerly known as Danny Loader, who was snapped up from Reading in 2020 and played for England at youth level with Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah.
Current Portugal number one Diogo Costa is between the posts, while Conceicao’s son Francisco has impressed on loan from Ajax where he spent last season after leaving the Estadio do Dragao. Right-back Jorge Sanchez and central midfielder Stephen Eustaquio represented Mexico and Canada at the 2022 World Cup, while Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic is formerly of Liverpool.
This season so far
The Primeira Liga title looks to be slipping away for Porto, as they trail leaders Sporting Lisbon by seven points with nine games remaining, but since we last faced off in the first leg they have taken a couple of big steps towards closing the gap between them and Benfica who occupy the second Champions League qualification spot.
A 94th-minute equaliser for Gil Vicente salvaged a 1-1 draw that seemingly killed off all hopes of a top-two finish, but then an incredible 5-0 thrashing of their arch-rivals Benfica trimmed the gap to six points. A 3-0 win at Portimonense on Friday saw Galeno score his fifth goal in his last five outings.
Porto made it to the last 16 by finishing second in a group behind Barcelona, losing twice to the Catalan side but winning all their other four games against Shakhtar Donetsk and Royal Antwerp.
The previous meetings
This is the fourth time we have drawn against Porto in European competition, which have all come in the Champions League. We have won all three home meetings, but have yet to taste success at the Estadio do Dragao.
Our first encounter came back in 2006/07 when we won 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Thierry Henry and Alex Hleb before drawing 0-0 away, while in 2008/09 we were victorious by a 4-0 scoreline when Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor bagged braces, before losing 2-0 away from home.
Those ties were in the group stage, and the last time we locked horns was in the round of 16 the following season, when we overturned a 2-1 loss in the first leg with an emphatic 5-0 win at Emirates Stadium to advance, with Nicklas Bendtner helping himself to a hat-trick.
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