First Celtic, now Porto. The Europa League is treating us to big names and unique away trips.
From a sporting perspective, this time we are facing a team that truly lives up to its reputation. With Futebol Clube do Porto, we meet an opponent that is performing strongly both in the league and in the Europa League. At home in the Primeira Division, they currently sit in first place, and in the Europa League they finished the league phase in 5th place, which meant they didn’t have to go through the knockout play-offs. Instead, they could sit back with a good bottle of port wine and a Francesinha and watch our matches against Celtic.
FC Porto is Portugal’s number two club. Both in terms of league titles and the all-time table, the “Dragons” sit behind record champions Benfica Lisbon. In general, the Portuguese league is very “centralized.” In total, only five different clubs have ever won the championship. Most of the titles are shared among the three big clubs: Sporting (21), FC Porto (29), and Benfica (38). Only Belenenses Lisbon and Boavista FC—who are currently facing dissolution—have managed to interrupt that dominance with one title each. This season will likely be another affair between the big three. Porto are in first place, Sporting are four points behind, while still unbeaten (!) Benfica are seven points behind Porto and would already need something of a miracle to win the title. The gap to fourth place? 13 points. Portugal’s top three have lost only two league matches combined. Our European opponent Porto have lost only three matches in total this season.
Once in the Europa League against Nottingham Forest, once in the Portuguese Cup against Sporting, and once in the league against relegation candidate Casa Pia (football, right?). Two of those three defeats came in the last four weeks, which admittedly gives us a small glimmer of hope. Because—even though some VfB fans among you are quite optimistic—I don’t think we can beat Porto. Their individual quality is too high, their team too experienced, and they are extremely solid defensively. They have kept a clean sheet 14 times this season.
Squad situation
Apart from Vagnoman, all regular starters are available.
Possible lineup
I’m not expecting any experiments. We might play with a back three again, with Führich and Leweling as wing-backs, but Hoeneß can’t really go wrong with the good old 4–2‑3–1 either.
Statistics
This will be VfB’s first encounter with the Dragons from Porto. It will be the sixth and seventh match against a Portuguese opponent. The Swabians defeated Vitória Setúbal FC in the quarter-finals in 1973/74 (2–2; 1–0) before losing to Feyenoord Rotterdam in the semi-finals. In 2004/05, Benfica Lisbon visited during the group stage and were sent back to the Atlantic with a 3–0 defeat. However, revenge came seven years later when Stuttgart faced Benfica in the second round of the Europa League and were eliminated (0–2; 1–2).
As a regular in European competitions, FC Porto have faced German teams far more often. In total, they have played 42 international matches against German opposition, winning 17 and losing 17. They have recorded the most victories against Hamburger SV, winning four of their six encounters with the Hanseatic club while losing twice. Their most recent clash with a Bundesliga side wasn’t that long ago: in October 2024 they hosted TSG Hoffenheim in the Europa League group stage and won 2–0.
Conclusion
At this stage of the competition, there are no easy opponents left. Accordingly, I have great respect for FC Porto. They are a successful team that relies on defensive compactness and has a strong mix of experience and youth. These will be two very difficult matches for our boys from Cannstatt. Even though we need to win to have a realistic chance of progressing, I would also be satisfied with a draw.
Picture: © Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images