Porto vs Manchester City: Champions League preview, team news
By Joel Masibo, September 8, 2026Porto will welcome Manchester City to the Estádio do Dragão on Tuesday night, September 8, 2026, as the two sides begin their 2026-27 UEFA Champions League campaigns.
Both teams have enjoyed perfect starts to their respective domestic seasons, setting up an intriguing opening-round encounter in Portugal. However, one side will have to suffer its first setback of the campaign when these European heavyweights meet.
Man City begin new Champions League era
Manchester City enter the new European campaign under Enzo Maresca, marking the club’s first Champions League season without Pep Guardiola as manager since 2015-16.
Maresca is no stranger to success in European competition. He guided Chelsea to the Conference League title during the 2024-25 campaign and later recorded three victories, one draw and two defeats in six Champions League matches with the London club during the latter part of 2025.
His City side suffered a 3-0 defeat against Arsenal in the Community Shield, but that disappointment has been followed by an excellent beginning to their Premier League season.
City have collected maximum points from their opening three league matches, defeating Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and newly promoted Coventry City.
Erling Haaland was again central to their latest victory, scoring the decisive goal against Coventry to reach 300 career goals. The milestone also saw him surpass Sergio Aguero’s Manchester City scoring record.
Despite claiming the win, City were made to work hard by Coventry and relied on goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to prevent the hosts from finding the net. The result gave the Manchester club their first clean sheet of the campaign in all competitions.
Their European away record, however, remains a concern. City have won only two of their last nine Champions League matches on the road, while suffering six defeats during that run.
Porto return to Europe’s top competition
Porto are back in the Champions League after a two-year absence, with Tuesday’s fixture representing their first appearance in the competition since the 2023-24 season.
Their last Champions League campaign ended in the round of 16, where Arsenal eliminated them following a penalty shootout.
Since then, Porto have endured mixed fortunes in the Europa League. They were knocked out by Roma in the 2024-25 knockout playoff round before Nottingham Forest ended their run in the quarter-finals last season.
Winning the Primeira Liga title in 2025-26, however, secured their return to Europe’s premier club competition.
Porto have also made an impressive start to the current campaign. Following a 1-0 victory over Torreense in the Portuguese Super Cup, Francesco Farioli’s team have won all five of their league matches.
They have scored 11 goals across those games while conceding only once, with victories over Alverca, Rio Ave, Arouca, Viseu and Moreirense.
The club will be making its 28th appearance in the league phase or group stage of the Champions League. Only Bayern Munich, with 30 appearances, and Real Madrid and Barcelona, with 31 each, have featured more often at this stage.
Despite their excellent domestic form, Porto face an unfavorable historical record against City. They have never defeated the English side in a competitive match, losing three of their previous four European meetings.
Their only positive result came in December 2020, when the teams played out a goalless draw in the Champions League group stage.
Team news
Manchester City were forced into an unexpected change shortly before their victory over Coventry.
Nico O’Reilly suffered a back problem during the warm-up and was withdrawn from the starting XI, resulting in new signing Enzo Fernandez being brought into the team earlier than anticipated.
Although Maresca suggested after the match that O’Reilly’s injury was not particularly serious, the midfielder has not travelled to Portugal. Jeremy Doku is also unavailable because of a calf problem.
Iliman Ndiaye created another fitness concern after being substituted late during his debut. The forward subsequently indicated that the problem was cramp rather than a significant injury.
Should Ndiaye fail to recover in time, Phil Foden could be called upon to start.
Porto will also have selection problems of their own.
Jan Bednarek is suspended after receiving a red card during last season’s Europa League quarter-final second leg against Nottingham Forest. Nehuen Perez is therefore expected to come into the defence alongside former Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior.
The Portuguese club will also be without Victor Froholdt. The young midfielder was knocked unconscious during the victory over Moreirense and required hospital treatment.
Froholdt has since been recovering, but he will not feature against City. Vasco Sousa, Oskar Pietuszewski, Gabriel Mec, Zaidu Sanusi and Samu Aghehowa are also unavailable because of their respective injuries.