CL Group G: FC Porto x CSKA Moskva [P+R]

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Porto finished bottom of their UEFA Champions League group last season but the coach insists his side will keep cool heads this time round. "The fact Porto did not do well last season doesn't necessarily mean more pressure for us. CSKA are going to face a team who know just how strong they are. This team may be less experienced when compared with Porto sides of the past, but you only gain experience by playing. This squad want to win and that is what defines their character, desire and motivation."

The hosts have Ricardo Quaresma back following jaw surgery, though Tarik Sektioui may be favoured in midfield. Lisandro López could feature up front in place of Hélder Postiga and Uruguayan right-back Fucile is in line to make his debut for the Portuguese champions. Raul Meireles, Ibson, Bruno Moraes, Tomo Šokota, Pedro Emanuel and João Paulo are all sidelined by injury and Marek Čech also needs to shake off a cold to start for Porto, who overcame CF Estrela da Amadora 3-0 at the weekend.
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More important than winning, drawing or losing [in Porto] is to guarantee one of the top two places in the group in order to reach the next round," said Gazzaev, who expressed his admiration for Porto players such as Anderson, Lucho [González], Adriano and Pepe. "CSKA are a much stronger team now because we have more European experience. Winning the UEFA Cup in 2005 gave this team a great lift."

CSKA continue their European campaign fresh from a competitive Moscow derby at home to FC Spartak Moskva on Saturday. Valeriy Gazzaev's men led twice but let victory slip in a 2-2 draw which kept CSKA three points clear of Spartak in third place and two ahead of FC Lokomotiv Moskva in second. The Russian club have suffered numerous injury problems and will be without defender Chidi Odiah, midfielder Kirill Kochubei and striker Jô due to injury, while Vassili Berezutski is doubtful to take his place in defence.



Probable teams

FC Porto: Helton; Pepe, Marek Čech, Bosingwa, Bruno Alves; Lucho González, Anderson, Paulo Assunção; Tarik Sektioui, Lisandro López, Adriano.

CSKA: Igor Akinfeev; Sergei Ignashevich, Deividas Šemberas, Vassili Berezutski; Miloš Krasić, Elvir Rahimić, Evgeni Aldonin, Daniel Carvalho, Yuri Zhirkov; Ivica Olić, Vágner Love.


@ UEFA.com



just want us to grab the 3 points really, in order to have a good start.

2-0

Adriano, Anderson



VAMOS PORTO!

I think it will be a lot tougher than what many people think.

1-0 for Porto

Adriano

2-1

Adriano
Postiga

Vagner Love

Don't know by how many but I'm pretty sure Porto will win this. You do have Bruno Alves as a starter, though.

Good luck guys!

you guys are underrating CSKA, they have almost the same team that won the UEFA in 2005.

Strong defence, supreme in the counter attacks, the type of football that always screws us portugeezers.

Porto might win this but it will be for 1 goal of difference, not a walk in the park like people think.

But they really have to if they intend to go through.

personally speaking I am in now way thinking this will be an easy task.
but we're playing pretty well atm and since this is at home, we just HAVE to win...every match at the Dragão must be ours, so that we can face the last fixtures with more tranquility.

CSKA will come playing very closed and on the counter-attack as they usual do at least in European competitions so it'll be important for us to score as soon as possible so that they can open more space at the back and allow us to breach more often into their defense, hence scoring a second goal to finish them off

that's how I'm expecting this to turn out, and hopefully it'll be so.

cska to get a tie atleast

0-0

This season the CL is CSKA's main task. They probably will give the domestic league up in order to qualify to the round of 16.

This is a very difficult game unless FCPorto starts well and scores early, otherwise CSKA will close behind and has time goes by FCPorto moral will decrease.

I believe will start like this:

Tarik instead of Vieirinha


FCPorto 2 - 1 CSKA

Vieirinha oozes quality, I hope Jesualdo doesn't forget about him

Porto 2-2 CSKA

Lucho-------Olic
Adriano-----Carvalho

I hope Vieirinha and quaresma start. And Lisandro upfront. Between B.Alves and R.Costa is very hard to choose; I'd take a youngster, we have pretty godd CB's.


CSKA will be very very hard to beat. They have top notch players and a kickass manager.

this would be my starting 11:

Helton
Bosingwa
Pepe
B. Alves (he didn't f'ck up in the last match, so heh)
Cech
P. Assunção
Lucho
Anderson
Quaresma
Vieirinha
Adriano

only doubt would be Adriano or Lisandro as striker, but Adriano's size might work better against the russian towers.


btw why the f'ck did it have to start raining today

Vieirinha will not play!

Lista de convocados do FC Porto

Jesualdo Ferreira convocou os seguintes jogadores para o encontro frente ao CSKA:

Guarda-redes: Helton e Vítor Baía.

Defesas: Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Ricardo Costa, Ezequias, Jorge Fucile e Marek Cech.

Médios: Paulo Assunção, Lucho Gonzalez, Ricardo Quaresma e Anderson.

Avançados: Adriano, Alan, Hélder Postiga, Jorginho, Lisandro Lopez e Sektioui.

Destaque para as ausências de Vieirinha, cujo futebol é muito apreciado pelos adeptos, e os centrocampistas Ibson e Meireles, que se lesionaram nos últimos dias. Destaque também para a primeira convocatória de Jorge Fucile.


Hope we can win this, FORCA PORTO!

Cech didn't recover from his flue so Ezequias will be our LB.

Porto lineup:

Helton
Bosingwa
Pepe
B. Alves
Ezequias
P. Assunção
Lucho
Anderson
Quaresma
Tarik
Adriano


CSKA lineup:

Akinfeev
Ignashevich
Šemberas
Berezutski
Krasić
Rahimić
Aldonin
Dudu
Zhirkov
Daniel Carvalho
Vágner Love

CSKA front line is the same that was 1 year ago in Alvalade to win the Uefa cup. It's going to be hard. I have always thought that Porto's weak side was the defensive line, let's hope they prove me wrong.

Bruno Alves playing?

either him or Ricardo Costa dude

Vamos meu Porto!

so how's the game going? I've been watching the other game for obvious reasons.

What a dive by Giggs.... Celtic should be ahead. Beautiful FK from Celtic, aided by Saha's refusal to jump.

Wrong topic mate.