FC Porto travels to Belgium this Wednesday to face Champions League Group B leader Club Brugge. The Dragons qualify for the round of 16 of the competition if they beat the Belgians and Atlético de Madrid do not beat Bayer Leverkusen.
Sérgio Conceição repeats the starting eleven in relation to last Friday’s classic against Benfica and, at the Jan Breydelstadion, Otávio plays his 250th match in the blue and white shirt. On the Belgian side, in relation to the last match of the Belgian championship, against St. Gilloise, Abakar Sylla and Noa Lang came on for Dedryck Boyata and Bjorn Meijer.
After the initial whistle from referee Michael Oliver, the first offensive attack was from Club Brugge. Until the first five minutes, the emblem of that blue and black team dominated possession of the ball and entered wanting to win the game.
Belgian midfielder Raphael Onyedika’s complaints, after a duel with Otávio, forced him to stop. When the Nigerian returned to the pitch, FC Porto woke up and began a period of dominance in the Flanders region.
Brugge was able to have more possession of the ball, but the opportunities were only for the dragons. First, Stephen Eustáquio received the ball in the penalty area, but missed with a shot over the crossbar.
As the clock ticked down to the first quarter of an hour, the Blue and Whites staged a festival of missed opportunities. Again Eustáquio, but also Matheus Uribe and Mehdi Taremi were close to opening the scoring.
After a period of clear growth by FC Porto, with clear chances to score the first goal, Club Brugge approached Diogo Costa’s goal, but the Portuguese goalkeeper stopped the ball far from the goal.
Club Bruges eleven: Mignolet, Vanaken, Mechele, Nielsen, Odoi, Sylla, Buchanan, Skov Olsen, Lang, Onyedika and Jutglà
Eleven of FC Porto: Diogo Costa, Pepê, Fábio Cardoso, David Carmo, Zaidu, Uribe, Otávio, Galeno, Eustáquio, Evanilson, Taremi
Club Brugge substitutes: Lammens, Balanta, Larin, Meijer, Boyata, Nusa, Yaremchuk, Audoor and Sandra
FC Porto substitutes: Cláudio Ramos, Marcano, Veron, Grujic, Rodrigo Conceição, Loader, André Franco, Bruno Costa, Wendell, Toni Martínez, Gonçalo Borges and Bernardo Folha
Source: TSF
