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Portuguese League: Sporting CP-FC Porto (Key Takeaways)

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Sporting CP 1-2 FC Porto (Estádio José Alvalade), 12 February 2023 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, João Mário, Pepe, Marcano, Zaidu; Grujic, Uribe, André Franco, Galeno; Pepê, Taremi

Also played: David Carmo, Manafá, Eustáquio and Toni Martinez.

Huge win! This match was not always easy on the eye and had some stretches of bad football. But it was extremely intense from start to finish. Porto were the better team and deserved to win. We had three clear cut chances and scored twice. Sporting had a bunch of half chances and only managed a goal at the end. The score reflects what happened on the pitch – Sporting were a formidable opponent, but Porto were better.

Portuguese League: FC Porto-Paços de Ferreira (Match Report)

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FC Porto 4-0 FC Paços de Ferreira (Estádio do Dragão), 5 November 2022 – match report below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, Rodrigo Conceição, Fábio Cardoso, Marcano, Wendell; Uribe, Eustáquio, Otávio, Pepê; Taremi, Evanilson

Also played: João Mário, Grujic, Galeno, Gonçalo Borges and Toni Martinez.

The ‘demons’ of post-Champions League draws in the Portuguese League were very much present when this game started. I think even more so after the early goal, given what had happened last weekend. But this time Porto were very solid and never let up. Outside of one chance early in the first-half, Paços de Ferreira never looked like they could score. A very competent performance against an opponent we should be beating with relative ease.

Champions League: FC Porto-Atletico Madrid (Key Takeaways)

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FC Porto 2-1 Atlético de Madrid (Estádio do Dragão), 1 November 2022 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, Pepê, Fábio Cardoso, Marcano, Zaidu; Grujic, Eustáquio, Otávio, Galeno; Evanilson, Taremi

Also played: Rodrigo Conceição, Wendell, Bernardo Folha, Gonçalo Borges and Toni Martinez.

Revenge complete! After Atlético knocked us out of the Champions League last season and beat us (undeservedly) on the 97th minute of the opening match of the group stage, we had a very large score to settle. Not only did we win, but we also knocked them out of European competitions altogether and finished in first place in group B. Couldn’t have scripted it any better.

Champions League: Club Bruges-FC Porto (Key Takeaways)

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Club Bruges KV 0-4 FC Porto (Jan Breydel Stadium), 26 October 2022 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, Pepê, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Zaidu; Uribe, Eustáquio, Otávio, Galeno; Evanilson, Taremi

Also played: Rodrigo Conceição, Wendell, Bruno Costa, Gabriel Veron and Toni Martinez.

Talk about a revenge game! An excellent performance resulted in a 4-0 win and it could have been even more than that. This is one of those wins that is indisputable. It felt really good to return the favour, after Bruges beat us 4-0 at home. I think we proved we are the better team, but there’s not much separating the two sides, despite the two big scores.

Portuguese League: FC Porto-SL Benfica (Key Takeaways)

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FC Porto 0-1 SL Benfica (Estádio do Dragão), 21 October 2022 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, Pepê, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Zaidu; Uribe, Eustáquio, Otávio, Galeno; Evanilson, Taremi

Also played: R Conceição, Wendell, Veron Toni Martinez.

What a let down. Benfica left Porto with the 3 points after a hard fought game, with little football being played and a fair amount of refereeing controversy. Despite playing for over an hour with just 10-men, I don’t think Porto were inferior to Benfica and a draw would have been the correct score. At the end of the day though, Eustáquio got sent off, Bah didn’t, Porto were all heart and little brain, and Benfica scored one. That’s really the summary of this game.

Portuguese League: Preview of FC Porto-SL Benfica

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The most anticipated match still to play in 2022 is taking place on Friday night, as Porto host League-leaders Benfica. After a flying start, Porto stuttered over the month of September, dropping 5 points and allowing Benfica to create a 3 point lead. That makes this match even more important, because I don’t think either team will drop points until the break for the World Cup.

After 9 League games plus at least another 5 in other competitions, I feel like we have a pretty decent idea of what to expect from both teams. In this post I’ve written a preview of what I think we’ll see in this match – highlighting the backdrop of both teams and some of the main tactical considerations on both sides.

Portuguese Cup: Anadia FC-FC Porto (Key Takeaways)

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Anadia FC 0-6 FC Porto (Municipal Engº Sílvio Henriques Cerveira), 16 October 2022 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Cláudio Ramos, Rodrigo Conceição, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Wendell; Grujic, Bruno Costa, Otávio, Gabriel Veron; Danny Loader, Toni Martinez

Also played: Ivan Marcano, Manafá, Bernardo Folha, Gonçalo Borges, Evanilson.

A competent and professional performance saw Porto qualify to the next round of the Portuguese Cup. The final score was perhaps too harsh on Anadia, who could have got a consolation goal as well. But Porto were vastly superior and deserved to go through. Clearly the other results, which saw 8 (including Sporting) 1st division teams be eliminated yesterday, helped focus the team for the task at hand.

Champions League: Bayer Leverkusen-FC Porto (Key Takeaways)

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Bayer 04 Leverkusen 0-3 FC Porto (BayArena), 12 October 2022 – key takeaways below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, João Mário, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Zaidu; Uribe, Eustáquio, Otávio, Galeno; Pepê, Taremi

Also played: Bernardo Folha, Gonçalo Borges, Danny Loader, Evanilson and Toni Martinez.

A super important win last night! Coming into this fixture, Bruges were first with 9pts and all the other teams had 3pts. Just before kick-off, we learned Bruges managed a 0-0 draw in Madrid, which guarantees they will qualify out of this group (against all odds!). This made it even more pressing for Porto to win this game. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the job done.

Portuguese League: FC Porto-SC Braga (Match Report)

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FC Porto 4-1 SC Braga (Estádio do Dragão), 30 September 2022 – match report below

Line-up (4x3x3): Diogo Costa, Rodrigo Conceição, Pepe, David Carmo, Wendell; Uribe, Eustáquio, Bruno Costa; Pepê, Taremi, Evanilson

Also played: Zaidu, Grujic, Otávio, Galeno and Veron.

We’re back in business! After a series of bad results leading into the 2 week break, Porto really needed to win last night – it didn’t matter how, they just needed a win. And they got one. A convincing one at that. Porto weren’t as dominant as the final score may suggest, but they were the better team overall and deserved to win.

Portuguese League: GD Estoril Praia-FC Porto (Match Report)

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GD Estoril Praia 1-1 FC Porto (Estádio António Coimbra da Mota), 17 September 2022 – match report below

Line-up (4x4x2): Diogo Costa, Rodrigo Conceição, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Zaidu; Uribe, Eustáquio, André Franco, Pepê; Taremi, Evanilson

Also played: Grujic, Galeno, Veron, Loader and Toni Martinez.

The woes continue. Another horrible first-half resulted in Porto being down at half-time. It was only 1 goal, but could have been more. Lack of aggression, bad individual mistakes and some puzzling tactical decisions have resulted in Porto looking like a really ordinary team. However, the key issue is really roster construction. There is a gaping hole in midfield and this is not going to be resolved until, most likely, next season.