FC Barcelona vs FC Porto: Champions League Preview

FC Barcelona have made a strong start to the season in La Liga taking 20 points from their opening 8 fixtures, despite two surprising draws to Mallorca and Getafe, the current champions remain undefeated.

They also made a strong start in the Champions League, beating Royal Antwerp 5-0 in the opening round. They’ll be hoping to continue their unbeaten run tomorrow night, as they travel to Portugal to take on Porto, in what will be the most difficult group game.

Barcelona are coming off a hard-fought 1-0 win against Seville and confidence will be sky high entering a key game. If they manage to come away with 3 points, chances are Barcelona go on to top the group and qualify for the knockouts. Not only will that repair some of the damage done last year, but it also helps the club financially, so there’s a lot on the line.

Porto have also made a strong start to their domestic campaign winning 5 of their opening 7 games in Primeira Liga, which puts them 3rd behind early front-runners Sporting and Portuguese giants Benfica.

Porto also got off to a winning start in Group H, with an impressive away victory against Shakhtar Donetsk, which was played in Germany at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion due to the war in Ukraine.

When and where to watch FC Porto vs FC Barcelona

One of the better matchups during the second round of Champions League matchups, here’s how you can watch in some of the more popular areas. For a full listing of TV coverage around the world, you can visit the official Barcelona website.

When: Wednesday 4th October 2023
Time: 9:00 pm CEST, 8:00 pm GMT, 3:00 PM EST
How: Spain (Movistar), UK (TNT), USA (CBS).

Team News for FC Porto vs FC Barcelona

Barcelona will be without a few first-team players. Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha and Pedri are all sidelined through injuries. Oriol Romeu started the game against Seville on the bench, and it’ll be interesting to see if he’s reintroduced considering the importance of the game on the road. One key decision will be who starts in central defence. Kounde is a guarantee after his early season, but will it be Araujo or Andreas Christensen partnering him?

For Porto, manager Sergio Conceicao may have to do without Pepe with the former Real Madrid man struggling to shake off an injury. Ivan Marcano will also be missing with a ligament injury, Evanilson, Veron and Sanusi are also questionable through injuries. Barcelona will see an old friend in Nico Gonzalez, the midfielder moved to Porto from Barca this summer. 

Our Prediction

Porto are very difficult to beat at home but Barcelona remain unbeaten all season. It’s been 12 years since these two teams met and Barca usually gets the better of the Portuguese outfit, but we have a feeling this is going to end in a draw.

Porto 2-2 Barcelona