Porto and Gil Vicente get their 2024-25 Portuguese Primeira Liga campaign underway when they go head to head at the Estadio do Dragao on Saturday.
The Dragoes, who clinched the Supertaca Candido de Oliveira title last weekend, will be looking to make it 13 back-to-back wins across all competitions since the start of May and begin their title challenge on a high.
Match preview
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Porto turned in a superb show of fighting spirit in last Saturday's Super Cup as they fought back from three goals down to secure a 4-3 extra-time victory over rivals Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio Municipal de Aveiro.
The Dragoes found themselves three goals down inside 25 minutes after Goncalo Inacio, Pedro Goncalves, and Geovany Quenda hit the target to put Sporting in the driver's seat, but goals from Nuno Gonzalez, Ivan Jaime and a brace from Wanderson Galeno saw them turn the tie on its head in dramatic fashion.
This was in keeping with their outstanding run of results in pre-season, where the 30-time Portuguese champions picked up seven wins in their seven warm-up games while scoring 25 goals and keeping five clean sheets.
Porto, who have now picked up a record-extending 24 Super Cup title since their first triumph in 1981, now turn their attention to the Primeira Liga, where they will be looking to improve on last season's third-placed finish.
By their standards, Porto will feel somewhat disappointed with their performance in the 2023-24 campaign as they picked up 72 points from 34 matches — 18 off first-placed Sporting — their fewest point tally since the 2013-14 season (61).
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Gil Vicente, on the other hand, endured another disappointing Primeira Liga campaign last season as they finished 12th in the table, just four points above 16th-placed Portimonense in the relegation playoff spot.
While they ended the campaign with the eight-best point tally at home (25), Gil Vicente were often let down by their performance on their travels, where they lost 12 and managed three wins in their 17 matches.
Since their fifth-placed finish in 2022, Toze Marreco's side have failed to secure a top-half spot in their subsequent two seasons, ending 13th in the 2022-23 campaign, just one spot below their position from last term.
Gil Vicente head into the new campaign off the back of an impressive run of results in pre-season, where they went unbeaten in five of their six warm-up games, claiming three wins and one draw while scoring nine goals and conceding four.
However, the Gilistas have their work cut this weekend as they go up against an opposing side who are unbeaten in 18 of their last 20 encounters, picking up 16 wins and two draws since January 2011.
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Team News
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It has been a relatively quiet summer for Porto in terms of transfer activities, with the club looking to challenge for their 31st Primeira Liga title and their first since 2022.
However, the Dragoes will be without 41-year-old defender Pepe following the end of his contract while striker Mehdi Taremi has completed a move to Italian champions Inter Milan.
Francisco Conceicao, who caught the eye with Portugal at the Euro, made his loan from Ajax a permanent deal this summer while Fran Navarro has returned to the club after his loan spell with Olympiacos.
Conceicao is currently recuperating from a muscle problem while Ivan Marcano and Nigerian full-back Zaidu Sanusi have been sidelined through knee and ACL injuries respectively.
Meanwhile, there will be several new faces in the Gil Vicente squad with Facundo Caseres, Santi Garcia and former Benfica full-back Sandro Cruz in line to make their league debuts.
Brazilian defender Gabriel Pereira, who started 31 of the 38 Primeira Liga matches last season, has completed a move to Copenhagen while Ali Alipour has signed for Iranian club Persepolis FC.
On the injury front, new signing Josue Sa is a major doubt for Saturday's opening game as the former Rio Ave defender steps up his recovery from a muscle injury.
Porto possible starting lineup:
Costa; Fernandes, Otavio, Ze Pedro, Mario; Grujic, Varela; Galeno, Gonzalez, Borges, Namado
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Ventura; Cruz, Buatu, Fernandes, Mawesi; Correia, Gonzalez, Gbane, Fujimoto, Dominguez; Depu
We say: Porto 3-0 Gil Vicente
With the thrill from securing their first piece of silverware of the season still in the air, Porto will head into the weekend with sky-high confidence as they look to begin their league campaign on the front foot.
Vitor Bruno's men have enjoyed the better of this fixture, and given the gulf in quality between the two sides, we are backing them to secure all three points.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
