Key events
Porto players and coaches surround the referee, Szymon Marciniak, protesting the decision not to show Guehi a red card. I think once the decision was made on-field, there’s not enough there for VAR to overturn it – it wasn’t clearly deliberate or malicious.
Half time: Porto 0-0 Manchester City
Not a classic, but City have created enough chances to be a couple of goals ahead, despite getting nowhere near their fluent best.
47 mins: Andre Silva goes over in front of Gvardiol, hoping to elicit a second yellow card, but the referee isn’t buying it.
46 mins: William Gomes looks to bend his shot inside the far post, but misses by a few feet – and the offside flag is up, regardless.
45 mins: Veiga comes back on, and there’ll be three minutes of injury time.
43 mins: Veiga will need to wait for a minute to come back on, in what seems an unsatisfactory attempt at a concussion protocol. There’s some shoving and pointing between both sets of players, which the referee quickly cools down.
41 mins: A nasty collision in midfield as Guehi competes for a high ball with Veiga, who stays down with a cut to his head. Farioli claims that Guehi led with his elbow; looking at the replay, it doesn’t look that way to me.
40 mins: Gvardiol carries it forward, finds Semenyo and keeps chugging into the area. Semenyo switches the ball wide right to Foden, but left-back Fernandes shepherds him off the ball.
39 mins: The home fans are raising the volume, but their team are yet to really threaten City inside the final third.
38 mins: Veiga knocks the ball past Guehi and then barrels straight into him, looking for a foul. The referee is unmoved.
36 mins: Yellow card! Gvardiol is again ruffled by William Gomes and brings the winger down. There’s a spot of afters, both players pointing the finger, but Gvardiol is justifiably booked.
34 mins: Bouaddi is fouled by Veiga to end an unconvincing foray forward from the hosts.
32 mins: Diogo Costa has made five saves already, and is keeping Porto on terms. That City move was triggered by a lovely Bouaddi pass forward; he has looked very assured so far.
30 mins: Another City chance! Not sure how the visitors didn’t score here, as Nunes’ low cross finds Haaland, whose shot finds Costa with the goal gaping. The rebound falls to Cherki, whose rasping effort is also repelled – and Semenyo then takes a heavy touch, much to his teammates’ chagrin.
28 mins: Another half-chance for City as Foden aims for the far corner, but sees his low shot beaten away by Costa.
27 mins: Porto are allowing Semenyo too much space on the left, and his whipped cross finds Haaland, who heads a tricky chance just over the bar.
25 mins: Porto almost trip the City offside trap with a lofted ball towards Andre Silva, but he goes a fraction early and the flag is raised.
24 mins: Another slow-burning City passing move is ended by a foul, this time from Haaland, who leans on his marker too heavily.
23 mins: Nice work from Enzo Fernandez, taking the ball cleanly from winger Pepe as Porto threatened to break.
21 mins: City are penalised for a foul at the corner. You’d have backed Haaland to score with that chance, but his header was a touch too central.
20 mins: Chance! Erling Haaland makes his first contribution, meeting Foden’s cross and powering a header on goal that Costa turns behind. City corner …
18 mins: Bouaddi, who has looked pretty comfortable so far, chips a pass out to Semenyo, who lets the ball skid out of play.
17 mins: Porto advance into the City half but Silva and Gomes mess up an attempted one-two on the edge of the area.
15 mins: Semenyo cuts in from the left and curls an effort on goal, but it’s comfortable for Costa.
14 mins: Veiga gets in down the left and goes for the near post; Donnarumma sticks a leg out to deflect it behind, but the flag is up anyway.
13 mins: Foden looks to whip a low cross in from the right, but Fernandes gets a challenge in and the ball deflects back to Diogo Costa.
11 mins: City enjoying a little more possession now, with Bouaddi and Foden threading some neat passes together.
9 mins: Guehi carries the ball out of defence and City work it to Cherki, who is shrugged off the ball by Varela. No free-kick, but Porto pass up the chance to break away.
7 mins: Porto’s front three are pressing high and causing City problems, with Gvardiol almost taken off the ball by William Gomes.
6 mins: A tentative Manchester City move forward ends when Haaland pushes his marker down.
4 mins: Porto are missing their key midfield man, Victor Froholdt, tonight. He was knocked unconscious in a grisly clash of heads during their game against Moreirense on Friday, and spent the night in hospital. He is recovering but understandably not available tonight.
2 minutes: Porto bring the ball forward but right-back Alberto Costa is penalised for hauling Gvardiol down. It’s raining hard, and the pitch looks slippery.
Kick-off
Here we go, then. Porto are in their usual blue and white stripes; City are wearing their black and gold, bee inspired away kit.
Before kick-off, a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the victims of the recent flash floods in Nepal, which is impeccably observed.
Five minutes until kick-off, and the Estádio do Dragão feels suitably cauldronesque. It feels like there could be goals in this one – you can quote me on that later.
Jamie Jackson has noticed something strange on Uefa’s official team sheet …
It’s also finished AEK Athens 1-0 LASK Linz in the battle of the acronyms* – you can follow all the other Champions League and Carabao Cup action with Daniel Harris.
*I know they may technically not be acronyms; please don’t write in
FT: Club Brugge 2-3 Aston Villa They were pushed all the way, but Villa begin their campaign with a very useful three points. Rob Smyth has the latest …
Head to head: Porto have played Manchester City four times in Europe, and are yet to beat them. In the 2020-21 Champions League, City won 3-1 at home and drew 0-0 away in the group stage – before going on to lose the final to Chelsea in this very stadium.
The two sides also met in the 2011-12 Europa League knockouts, with City winning 6-1 on aggregate, before getting bundled out by Sporting in the next round.
Over in Bruges, Aston Villa are holding on to a 3-2 lead with 10 minutes to go. Follow that one with Rob Smyth …
Maresca has apparently introduced music to training sessions – Gabby Logan pushes him on the genre, and he says: “house music – I like house music, you know, boom-boom-boom.” Italo-house, perchance?
Enzo Maresca chats to Amazon Prime before the match: “It’s a hard place to come, but we’re going to try our best … it’s the first game, it’s going to be a long run. We’ll see where we are in December and January.”
He’s asked about the pressure of following Pep Guardiola, but brushes it off. “I’m trying to do what I did at Leicester, at Chelsea, it’s nothing different.” On summer signings, he adds: “We have quality players, that means service for Erling [Haaland], movement between the lines.”
Team news
Porto (4-3-3): Diogo Costa (c); Alberto Costa, Perez, Kiwior, Fernandes; Rosario, Varela, Veiga; William, Andre Silva, Pepe.
Subs: Claudio Ramos, Joao Costa, Hwang, Sainz, Gimenez, Souza, Fofana, Silva, Moura, Teixeira, Cunha, Luis Gomes.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias (c), Guehi, Gvardiol; Bouaddi, Fernandez; Semenyo, Cherki, Foden; Haaland.
Subs: Bettinelli, Rulli, Anderson, Kovacic, Ndiaye, Ait Nouri, Vitor Reis, Allan, Khusanov, McAidoo, Lewis.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Pre-match reading from our man in Porto, Jamie Jackson.
Preamble
Manchester City’s Enzo Maresca era has got off to a decent start, with three wins from three in the Premier League. The Champions League will offer a sterner test than their domestic opposition so far, with PSG, Barcelona, Napoli and plenty more top-tier teams dropping into their autumn fixture list.
First up, though, is a September trip to Porto – nice for the fans, not so much for the City players. Also managed by a tactically cautious Italian in Francesco Farioli, the Portuguese champions also boast a 100% league record this season. With the Manchester derby up next, the hard work starts here for Maresca and his new-look City side.
Kick-off is 8pm (BST).
