Porto and Chelsea meet on neutral territory at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, in the first leg of their Quarter Final tie in 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.
This match marks Porto’s first meeting with Chelsea since the Group Stage of 2015-16 tournament.
Team News
Mehdi Taremi is suspended for Porto after picking up a red card in the second leg of their Last 16 victory over Juventus.
Sergio Oliveira is suspended after collecting his second booking of the season in that same match, with the pair now joining Mouhamed Mbaye (knee) and Ivan Marcano (unspecified) on the sidelines.
Chelsea could be without Christian Pulisic after the American suffered a hamstring injury in Saturday’s 5-2 home defeat to West Brom.
Tammy Abraham could return after being snubbed at the weekend but N’Golo Kante (hamstring) is ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Porto have avoided defeat in three of eight previous Champions League meetings against Chelsea (W2, D1, L5).
- Chelsea have won just one of four previous away games against Porto (W1, D1, L2).
- Moussa Marega is the only Porto player to score more than once in their four ‘home’ Champions League matches this season, having found the net twice.
- Oliver Giroud has scored Chelsea’s last six away goals in this season’s Champions League.
- This is the first match this season in which any Porto and Chelsea match has been refereed by Slovenia’s Slavko Vincic.
Prediction
Porto enter this game in fierce form with just three defeats since November in all competitions so cannot be underestimated, especially after grinding out a hard fought win over Santa Clara on Saturday in a physical contest with their high tempo style.
Chelsea will meanwhile certainly be keen to produce a reaction after a shambolic defensive performance on Saturday, in which Thomas Tuchel’s gamble to rest key players in Ben Chilwell, Mason Mount and Oliver Giroud backfired yet could benefit the Blues here with their fresh legs.
I therefore expect a good attacking contest here but Chelsea do seem to enjoy the counter-attacks more under Tuchel than dominating games, which Porto will be wary of and could make life difficult so I am going for a score draw here.
Prediction: Porto 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Porto 0-2 Chelsea