Tuesday night will see the return of a Porto legend as Jose Mourinho brings his Chelsea side to take on the Portuguese side in the second group match of the Champions League.
Contrasting Chelsea
The Premier League Champions’ start to their European campaign has been on a completely different scale to their domestic campain. They will be looking to make it back-to-back victories in Europe’s elite competition after they managed a comfortable 4-0 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in their opening fixture.
Their league form has been the complete opposite as they have only managed two victories in their opening eight matches of the league campaign. They have, however, managed to remain unbeaten since their win over the Israeli side with an impressive 2-0 victory over Arsenal before knocking Walsall out of the league cup.
Disappointing draw
They were left disappointed at the weekend as they had to mount a late comeback to avoid defeat to Newcastle United.
Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum put the Magpies two goals ahead but goals from Ramires and Willian managed to save a point with the 2-2 draw.
Porto bouncing back
It has also been a slow start for their Portuguese counterparts as the Primeria Liga side will be looking for their first three points of the group stage process after they had to come from behind to secure a 2-2 draw with Dynamo Kiev in the last group game.
It hasn’t been particularly plain sailing recently in the domestic league, they have managed to remain unbeaten in their first six league matches but dropped points at the weekend in preparation for the game with a 2-2 stalemate with Moreirense.
Return of a king
The obvious highlight of Mourinho’s successful spell at his former club was their Champions League triumph back in 2003-04 season with their victory over Monaco proving one of the catalysts that led to his first spell at Stamford Bridge.
They proved successful in last season’s campaign managing to reach the quarter-final stage before they were beaten by German club Bayern Munich.
Team News
The visitors will still be missing no. 1 goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois who is expected to be out for at least several months as the Belgian recovers from knee surgery. Diego Costa is expected to make a return as his domestic ban doesn’t extend to European competition.
Striker Andre Silva will be missing for the home side as he was ruled out for at least a month last weekend after picking up an ankle injury in the reserves. Yacine Brahimi is also a doubt having missed training at the weekend after picking up a knee injury in the draw with Moreirense.
Porto will host Chelsea at the Estadio do Dragao on Tuesday, September 28 with kick-off at 7:45PM BST.