Pep Guardiola's quest for a first Champions League crown with Manchester City continues on Wednesday as the Citizens welcome Porto to the Etihad for their inaugural clash of the 2020-21 tournament.
The hosts head into the Group C tie following a hard-fought 1-0 win over Arsenal at the weekend, whereas Porto's showdown with fellow Portuguese powerhouses Sporting Lisbon ended all square.
Match preview
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Some fans may argue that Guardiola's stint at Man City cannot be considered successful without a Champions League crown to his name, with the four-time Premier League champions failing to translate their domestic dominance into European glory since becoming Champions League regulars.
City were one of the favourites to go all the way in the 2019-20 campaign but were sent packing at the quarter-final stage for the third year in a row, with French giants Lyon coming up trumps against Guardiola's men 3-1 thanks to a late double from Moussa Dembele.
Guardiola had previously witnessed his side succumb to defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool in the last eight of Europe's elite tournament, while fans will also not be forgetting the 2016-17 campaign which saw an effervescent Monaco outfit win on away goals following a 6-6 aggregate scoreline in the last-16 stage.
While the Citizens will undoubtedly be desperate to regain their Premier League crown - something that the City faithful may be feeling more optimistic about in the wake of Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk's serious knee injury - nothing compares to being crowned kings of Europe, something that Guardiola knows all too well from his Barcelona days.
Man City's start to the Premier League season has not gone as smoothly as their supporters would have hoped, with Leicester City inflicting a 5-2 thrashing on Guardiola's men and newly-promoted Leeds United holding the Citizens to a draw at Elland Road, but a Raheem Sterling strike was enough for City to come out on top against Arsenal at the weekend.
A new season brings new opportunities for the Champions League-chasing Citizens, however, and City will now look to make it a trio of victories against Porto when the Portuguese double winners make the trip to Manchester in midweek.
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Porto seemed destined to be heading for victory in their weekend meeting with great rivals Sporting, with Mateus Uribe and Jesus Corona both netting after Nuno Santos's opener, but an 87th-minute equaliser from Luciano Vietto saw the points shared at the Estadio Jose Alvalade XXI.
Sergio Conceicao's men are aspiring to record back-to-back titles in the Primeira Liga for the first time since 2012, but challengers Benfica have already stolen a march on Porto and are five points ahead of the champions at this early stage, with Porto also suffering a 3-2 defeat to Maritimo this month.
However, the Portuguese giants must now turn their focus to a daunting trip to the Etihad as they make their return to the group stage of the Champions League following a one-year absence - Conceicao's men were knocked out by FC Krasnodar in qualifying last year.
Nevertheless, Porto have advanced to the knockout stage of Europe's elite competition in three out of the last four seasons, but with Marseille and Olympiacos also occupying spots in Group C, the Portuguese double winners have a fight on their hands if they are to finish in the top two once again.
City and Porto have only ever met twice before, and it was the Premier League side who took the spoils on both occasions in the 2011-12 Europa League - 2-1 away and 4-0 at home in the last-32 stage.
Manchester City form (all competitions): WWLWDW
Porto form (all competitions): WWWLD
Team News
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Guardiola will be forced to make do without key man Kevin De Bruyne once again - the Belgium international missed out the win over Arsenal and is expected to remain sidelined for another couple of weeks.
Defensive duo Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy are also all in the medical room, while Sergio Aguero, who recently returned from an injury of his own, will continue to lead the line in the absence of Gabriel Jesus.
Guardiola opted for an unorthodox 3-1-4-2 against the Gunners but may revert back to his tried-and-tested 4-3-3 here, with Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres both in contention to start should the City manager look to freshen things up, while Oleksandr Zinchenko is also available having recovered from injury.
As for the visitors, Conceicao only has two absentees to contend with in the forms of Ivan Marcano and Mouhamed Mbaye, both of whom are nursing ACL injuries.
West Ham United loanee Felipe Anderson is set for a quick return to English surroundings and will look to start on the left-hand side, with Corona and Moussa Marega completing the front three.
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Cancelo; Rodri, Gundogan, Foden; Torres, Aguero, Sterling
Porto possible starting lineup:
Marchesin; Manafa, Mbemba, Pepe, Sanusi; Oliveira, Otavio, Uribe; Corona, Marega, Anderson
We say: Manchester City 3-1 Porto
Both of these European giants have not enjoyed the starts to their domestic seasons that they were hoping for, and City also have a number of absentees to contend with for their first Champions League showdown of the campaign. However, Porto's record on English soil is nothing short of abysmal and we cannot see the Portuguese outfit walking away with something to show from this encounter - this should be a routine victory for City.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 2.5:curl
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Manchester City win with a probability of 62.63%. A win for Porto had a probability of 19.58% and a draw had a probability of 17.8%.
The most likely scoreline for a Manchester City win was 2-1 with a probability of 8.62%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 3-1 (7.45%) and 2-0 (6.05%). The likeliest Porto win was 1-2 (4.74%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (6.65%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 7.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Manchester City would win this match.
