FC Porto

PORTO, PORTUGAL- Jose Mourinho’s prodigy is on the minds of the giant European club after not even completing his first entire season as head coach of Futebol Clube de Porto.

Current Porto coach Andre Villas Boas said reports linking him with a move to clubs in England or Italy were “absurd.”

British and Italian newspapers and media outlets have linked the 33-year-old coach with clubs such as Juventus, Roma, Liverpool and Chelsea.

After leading Porto triumphantly to the Portuguese League Title a few weeks ago, the Dragons find themselves in the domestic cup final and facing Villarreal in the semifinals of the Copa Europa.

“There are incredible stories. Supposedly I said no to Roma because I was going to Liverpool,” the coach told reporters ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semifinal first leg against Spanish side Villarreal. “It’s absurd.”

Italian sports reports from the Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday linked the coach with a move to Juventus, and Portuguese paper A Bola added that Juventus sent team representatives to watch Porto during the Villarreal match and convince him to leave Porto at the end of this season.

“It’s absurd to say they are coming to observe me. During the game, the coach does nothing more that walk around in a suit and run a little bit,” Villas Boas said.

With Porto almost having a treble in the works this season, Villas Boas can have his popularity doubled with the victory of more titles.

Although the Portuguese coach has done a fabulous job with the squad this season, are clubs prematurely tagging him has great because of his affiliation to Mourinho? Villas Boas has his own destiny in his hands and the right club to excel in any competition.

Every year in European football, the spotlight always falls on teams like Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.  One team that has not been getting enough attention is FC Porto.  

Last week, the Dragões clinched the domestic league title by defeating their nemesis SL Benfica.  

This is their seventh title in the past eleven years.  While the Portuguese league is not rated as highly as the EPL or La Liga, this league has produced teams like Porto, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Sporting de Braga who are strong competitors in European competition.  

Currently in the Europa League, there are three Portuguese teams in the quarterfinals (Porto, Braga, and Benfica) and all three will most likely advance to the semi finals.  

This season, Porto has been on a very impressive run.  Domestically, they are currently unbeaten, as they have won 26 games and have only drawn twice as of April 10.  

In the Europa League, they cruised through the group stage with Beşiktaş giving them their lone draw. In the first knockout round, Porto faced Sevilla who actually defeated Porto 1-0 in the second leg, but it was not enough as Porto won 2-1 in the first phase which allowed them to advance based on aggregate goals.  

The following two rounds have been a much smoother ride as they defeated CSKA Moscow and crushed Spartak Moscow 5-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals.  Assuming Porto does not have a melt-down in the second leg, they will most likely face Villareal in the semi-finals which will be arguably the matchup of the tournament.

So the big question is, how has Porto been able to be such a good team over the years, this year especially?  Three key words can answer that, "Under the Radar."

Key players for Porto this year include the following:  Hulk, Fernando, Fernando Belluschi, Álvaro Pereira, Jorge Fucile, Helton, Maicon (not the Inter Milan version), Cristian Rodríguez, Nicolás Otamendi and Mariano Gonzales.  

The one thing all these players have in common, they all are South American stars from Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil that are great players, but do not have the price tags that Fernando Torres, Kun Agüero, Mario Balotelli, Andy Carroll and many other high priced players have.

Porto's ability to put together a team of journeymen, as well as up-and-comers from smaller clubs, has made their model one that the top flight teams should use instead of overpaying by millions for big names.  All of these players play vital roles that complement one another, making every player equally important.

Three other important players to Porto this season are the Colombian trio of Radamel Falcao, Guarín and James Rodríguez.    

Of the trio, James is the new kid on the block.  The 19-year wunderkind, has progressed much quicker than anyone probably anticipated.  The winger/playmaker quickly worked his way to the first team since joining the squad in January from Banfield in Argentina. Porto signed the teenager for just 5 million Euros.  While Silvestre Varela is the regular starter at the left wing, James has been able to come off the bench and start on occasion which has been able to keep Varela fresh in this long season.  

Eventually, James will be the regular starter and will be more integral to Porto's success.  With five games remaining in the domestic league, and the league title already secured, James will probably get more playing time as a way to keep other players fresh and as a way to gain experience.  By the time he is 21 or 22 he will be worth at least 25 million Euros. 

Up front, Radamel Falcao has been a scoring menace at both the domestic and European level. 

Over the past two seasons, he has tallied 60 goals in 77 matches.  Currently, he is the top scorer in the Europa league with 10 goals.  

Should Porto get past Villareal and win the Europa league, Falcao may be in line to get player of the tournament.  

If that happens, Falcao's price tag after this season will easily soar above 25 million Euros where a team like Real Madrid will spend whatever is necessary to obtain a striker that will help them move past Barcelona.  Not bad for a player who was purchased for 5 million euros.  

Even before coming to Porto, Falcao was a seasoned veteran at River Plate in Argentina (former teammate of Belluschi) and had several caps for Colombia by the time he arrived in Portugal.  Talk about a great investment that will yield great returns in a year or two.

The x-factor, and arguably the MVP for Porto this second half of the season, has been Fredy Guarín.  

The Colombian came to Porto from St. Etienne in France in 2008.  After two seasons of injuries and coming off the bench occasionally,  it seemed Guarín's days were numbered in a midfield that was already full of quality depth.   

After adding a few pounds of muscle, the injuries stopped and the form shortly followed.  Guarín quickly started to score critical goals off the bench and added a new dimension to Porto's style of play.  Guarín has shown on many occasions that he can score from outside the 18 with his powerful shot.  

Between  Fernando, Rúben Micael, João Moutinho, Fernando Belluschi, and now Guarín, Porto's midfield has a strong mix of ball winners and playmakers which can adapt to any opponent they face.

In addition to the South Americans that have made Porto a powerhouse, there are a few players that have worked their way through the ranks in Portugal.  Moutinho, Varela, Micael and Rolando have all had an important role in Porto's success.  

Of the four, Moutinho was the most mainstream of the bunch, but Varela, Micael and Rolando have become such valuable players while at Porto that they have all become integrated into Portugal's national team as a reward for their performances at the club level.  Even Moutinho has regained a regular role with Portugal after redeeming himself in all competitions for the top Portuguese side.

With such a well rounded squad, Porto is well on their way to replicating the success that was accomplished under José Mourinho between 2002-4.  

After this season, players like Falcao, Guarín, Hulk, Varela, Rolando and many others will no longer be under the radar, but will become household names amongst the football community.

Follow me on twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/Furnaccio 

Sources from Lisbon have revealed today that the ex-Liverpool Montevideo player Jorge Fucile is interesting the Premier League giants Liverpool.

Before the Liverpool team had set off for their trip to Macedonia to play Rabotnicki in their first leg match on the 29th of July 2010, the three new signings Milan Jovanovic, Danny Wilson, and Joe Cole were revealed for the first time by the club yesterday.

It was during this session that Roy Hodgson, the current Liverpool FC manager, mentioned that Liverpool FC were certainly looking forward to buy a few more of the promising talents available. He was confident that the Reds could bring them to Anfield, amongst rumors linking those players to other big clubs.

Jorge Fucile has been very impressive in his outing for the Uruguyan outfit and has been attracting interests from a host of clubs. 

In this light, Jorge Fucile could be just one of those names on Liverpool's radar. 

Fucile who has been a regular for both his current club, FC Porto, and Uruguay for quite sometime now, and he is considered as a very reliable defender. 

During his stay at FC Porto, Fucile has excelled on both the right and left side of defence. His versatility will be of great aid to the Reds, who are desperately searching for a proper left back.

Although there are reports that the Insua deal with Fiorentina may still not mature, Fucile would still be a first choice for the club after he has really caught the eye of many in recent times.

All in all, it should be a very good scalp if Liverpool FC manage it in the end, especially considering their financial status, wherein they cannot really go for high profile buys.

The money generated from the Mascherano sale may well be first channelized to solve the defensive problems of the Reds.

If you are an Arsenal fan you may have, during the first 16 of the Champions League, been infuriated for many reasons. Possibly the fact that the result was a completely undeserving defeat, maybe because Lukas Fabianski proved once again he is not entirely capable of top class matches, it could be because once again Arsenal were plagued by injuries or it could even have been due to the fact that Francesc Fabregas was fouled more times than you could count. Though it was more likely that you were infuriated by a certain referee's decision. This decision being, of course, about Lukas Fabianski handling a back-pass from veteran Sol Campbell. 

You may have been chanting from your living rooms a famous tune 'The Referee's a ****er' or possibly murmuring under your breath the dreaded words of '12 men'. But, whether it was one of the above, a different chant or just stunned silence each Arsenal fan in the world was participating in one of those ventures.

This is unfortunately a much harder case to shout about. Many non-Arsenal supporters will tell you 'the ref was not biased or cheating'. Of the course the referee wasn't biased (because referees are not COUGH COUGH) and he also did not cheat. Everything he did surrounding the incident was perfectly justifiable in the Rule Book but, as with any sport, playing by the Rule Book does not make for a proper game. As many scientists say 'It is the exceptions that prove the rule', or as far as football goes it is dealing with these exceptions in a way that the game will see fit.

The referee did not.

Here is a list of what went wrong: The free kick should not have been taken quickly. Fabianski held the ball while the Porto player attempted to take it off of him. Which is fine. However when the referee asked for the ball Fabianski had to hand it over. Obviously the keeper was expecting the referee to ask for a wall to be set up and make sure none of the arsenal players were too close. This is not what happened. The referee immediately handed the ball to the attacking team an action which Fabianski had the been so keen to avoid.

Secondly the referee, after handing the ball back to Porto too early, is standing right next to the ball. If the Porto player had tried to pass the ball through the referee, failed to do so and complained. The ref would almost certainly have told them they were taking it too early to avoid being the cause of a problem. He should not be so close to the free kick which shows that he was not expecting  a quick free kick to be taken. From which i would presume that he had wanted to set up a wall on the goal line. His position had one other effect. He was now standing between Sol Campbell and the ball. Campbell, being the closest defender, is he man who should have been standing in front of the ball blocking the quick free kick. (The ref would not have penalised his as it would seem completely unjustified to do so). He does not because, A: he does not expect the ball to be given away by the Referee so quickly and B: the referee was standing in his way.

Thirdly the free kick is taken from the wrong place. If you are an Arsenal fan you may have, during the first 16 of the Champions League, been infuriated by a certain referee's decision. This decision being, of course, about Lukas fabianski handling a backpass from veteran Sol Campbell. 

You may have been chanting from your living rooms a famous tune 'The Referee's a ****er' or possibly murmuring under your breath the dreaded words of '12 men'. But, whether it was one of the above, a different chant or just stunned silence each Arsenal fan in the world was participating in one of those ventures.

This is unfortunately a much harder case to shout about. Many non-Arsenal supporters will tell you 'the ref was not biased or cheating'. Of the course the referee wasn't biased (because referees are not COUGH COUGH) and he also did not cheat. Everything he did surrounding the incident was perfectly justifiable in the Rule Book but, as with any sport, playing by the Rule Book does not make for a proper game. As many scientists say 'It is the exceptions that prove the rule', or as far as football goes it is dealing with these exceptions in a way that the game will see fit.

The referee did not.

Here is a list of what went wrong: The free kick should not have been taken quickly. Fabianski held the ball while the Porto player attempted to take it off of him. Which is fine. However when the referee asked for the ball Fabianski had to hand it over. Obviously the keeper was expecting the referee to ask for a wall to be set up and make sure none of the arsenal players were too close. This is not what happened. The referee immediately handed the ball to the attacking team an action which Fabianski had the been so keen to avoid.

Secondly the referee, after handing the ball back to Porto too early, is standing right next to the ball. If the Porto player had tried to pass the ball through the referee, failed to do so and complained. The ref would almost certainly have told them they were taking it too early to avoid being the cause of a problem. He should not be so close to the free kick which shows that he was not expecting  a quick free kick to be taken. From which i would presume that he had wanted to set up a wall on the goal line. His position had one other effect. He was now standing between Sol Campbell and the ball. Campbell, being the closest defender, is he man who should have been standing in front of the ball blocking the quick free kick. (The ref would not have penalised his as it would seem completely unjustified to do so). He does not because, A: he does not expect the ball to be given away by the Referee so quickly and B: the referee was standing in his way.

Thirdly the free kick is taken from the wrong place.

The image shows a half-accurate, (half accurate as i had to make it myself), depiction of where the infringement was committed and from where the free kick was taken. Judging by the sizes of the players and the referee i would have to judge that the free kick is taken from almost 2 metres away from where it should have been. If you have a free kick in your own half (the sort that a goalkeeper might take) then the ball being a metre off does not make much difference. If the ball is 2 metres off the ref might ask for the position to be changed. In the penalty area, with there being only 18 yards between the edge of it and the goal line, there is a much more noticeable difference. Any striker in the world would rather to only have shoot from 10 yards instead of 12 whereas no defender will have a preference for whether they clear the ball off the goal line or from 2 yards off the goal line. The position of the ball being wrong also meant that Sol Campbell was on the wrong side of the ball. Had the kick been taken from 2 metres back he big arsenal centre back would have been capable of delaying the game and a wall would have been set up.

Finally there is the reason that caps it all off. Had the referee been capable of making what would have to be called a simple decision. Thomas Rosicky found his way into the Porto 18 yard box. It is right before he can kick the ball that his leg is clipped by Alvaro Pereira. (Not the only incident he didn't see, he also managed to miss Walcott being forcefully throw to the ground, though the linesman did tell him otherwise, fortunately). It was an obvious foul and another incident where if it was not a foul it was a dive, the ref sees neither. Giving Porto a free kick for a deliberate dive the decision would be put down to poor sight of the incident. However, giving neither shows a complete lack of competency.

So all in all, the referee could have stopped a goal being scored in an immoral if not illegal way. You may be told 'but Fabianski could have stopped the entire affair from happening' well, if Rosicky had been awarded the penalty he most definitely deserved, then so could the referee.This picture shows a half-accurate (half accurate as i had to make it myself) depiction of where the infringement was committed and from where the free kick was taken. Judging by the sizes of the players and the referee i would have to judge that the free kick is taken from almost 2 metres away from where it should have been. If you have a free kick in your own half (the sort that a goalkeeper might take) then the ball being a metre off does not make much difference. If the ball is 2 metres off the ref might ask for the position to be changed. In the penalty area, with there being only 18 yards between the edge of it and the goal line, there is a much more noticeable difference. Any striker in the world would rather to only have shoot from 10 yards instead of 12 whereas no defender will have a preference for whether they clear the ball off the goal line or from 2 yards off the goal line. The position of the ball being wrong also meant that Sol Campbell was on the wrong side of the ball. Had the kick been taken from 2 metres back he big arsenal centre back would have been capable of delaying the game and a wall would have been set up.

Finally there is the reason that caps it all off. Had the referee been capable of making what would have to be called a simple decision. Thomas Rosicky found his way into the Porto 18 yard box. It is right before he can kick the ball that his leg is clipped by Alvaro Pereira. (Not the only incident he didn't see, he also managed to miss Walcott being forcefully throw to the ground, though the linesman did tell him otherwise, fortunately). It was an obvious foul and another incident where if it was not a foul it was a dive, the ref sees neither. Giving Porto a free kick for a deliberate dive the decision would be put down to poor sight of the incident. However, giving neither shows a complete lack of competency.

So all in all, the referee could have stopped a goal being scored in an immoral if not illegal way. You may be told 'but Fabianski could have stopped the entire affair from happening' well, if Rosicky had been awarded the penalty he most definitely deserved, then so could the referee.

As I threw my hands up in exasperation last night, the question about when a hill of beans becomes a mountain lingered in my head. That was me just pissed off at our breath-taking propensity to engineer individual moments of madness that pretty much unravels the collective team effort.

After being scraped off the ceiling, I had a beer and watched a classic stand up comedy routine from 1981 by Richard Pryor. Of late, movies seem to do the trick for me, especially to inject a dose of reason and perspective with the elapsing time.

So what really pissed me off? 

Probably the fact that I don’t like losing, but I guess one team inevitably loses in a game of this type. I think I was bothered more by the individual mistakes that led to the goal (just for the record, I came off the ceiling and can happily look at this in the cold light of day.)

First, it was a great match for the most part. 

Any neutral would have loved watching last night’s game as it ebbed and flowed. Believe it or not, there was not one offside decision, and I can’t ever recall a match going all the way without an offside decision being given.

I didn’t want to leave the room lest I missed a counter attack. Apart from the errors that led to the goals against us, Arsenal played relatively well for a visiting team at the Estadio do Dragão.

It seems we have learned our lessons from recent defeats about keeping our shape and dealing with counter attacks. I don’t recall a time when I thought we were in imminent danger of conceding a goal from a counter attack. 

In respect of a free flowing attacking game, both teams have to be given credit for making it a great football game to watch. Not that there weren’t sloppy and lethargic spells during the game, but the two teams applied themselves well.

From Arsenal’s point of view, it was great to see Bendtner getting into attack mode.

We eventually scored on a corner resulting from Bendy’s deflected shot. In all honesty, Bendy had started to celebrate as the ball was en route into the net off the deflection.

The look on Bendtner’s face with his hands behind his head pretty much said, ”How the hell didn’t that ball go into the net?”

Porto had clearly been studying our games against Man United and Chelsea. They targeted Clichy’s left flank in what the industry now considers Arsenal’s defensive Achilles heel. 

I recently wrote about the mental fortitude and discipline Arsenal needs to make the system we play a success. There was a classic lapse of this on Porto’s first goal.

Silvestre Varela should have never been given the freedom of the park to bomb down our left flank. The sequence of individual lapses played out right in front of my eyes. 

Nasri didn’t track quick enough, Clichy didn’t deal with Varela well enough (and he really should have), and Fabianski became the second Arsenal goalkeeper to score a goal in less than three weeks...albeit at the wrong end of the pitch.

Fabianski’s judgment could have been spot on as he moved to anticipate Varela’s cross. I guess you can argue all day whether it was a really bad shot from the Porto player that went the wrong side of Wookash. Varela probably couldn’t care less, and why should he.

For the second goal, I can live with the first mistake made when Wookash picked up the back pass. However, his judgment to give a demanding referee the ball will probably haunt him for a long time to come. 

This was one of those cases where Wookash should have taken one for the team and refused to give the ball to the referee until Arsenal had regrouped. 

It most definitely would have cost him a yellow card, but it would have been one card that the Arsenal players and supporters celebrated. 

Campbell should have punched the referee out of the way for blocking his run towards Falcao and taken a yellow or red card for "dealing’" with foreign objects obstructing access to the ball. 

If the referee had any conscience, he’d have had Porto retake the free kick because his positioning blocked Campbell.

Denilson, who in recent times has become the doom and gloom brigade’s "scapegoat du jour," had a shaky start, but he settled down, and I feel he had a good enough game. 

Like with AC Milan and Man United the previous evening, both Arsenal and Porto went through a spell of giving the ball away, like they were being paid to do it.

Porto also employed the unsavoury tactic of rotational fouling, targeting Cesc Fabregas. This cowardly and irritating strategy not only broke Arsenal’s flow, but it’s that cumulative tackling that ends up causing niggly injuries that will affect our players as the season goes on.

Martin Hansson (of the France-Irish World cup qualifier fame) should have handed over more yellow cards to Porto players. This rotational fouling was a deliberate, well thought out strategy.

Part of the reason I was pissed off after that second goal was this. The referee made a technically correct decision to give the indirect free kick to Porto, but having done that, it was totally unfair for him not to allow Arsenal the right to defend it. 

Considering the drama this referee is capable of, I concluded that there’s absolutely no point in expecting any less from him. 

My exasperation then moved to Campbell and Fabianski for giving the referee the opportunity to gift Porto an open net. They also should have taken a yellow card for kicking the ball out of the stadium to stop the free kick being taken until Arsenal were ready.

All in all, the minimum we can now demand from this team is the right to sing "One nil to the Arsenal" on March 9. Any win will do, but if Porto score twice at the Emirates, we have to win with a two-goal margin because of the away goal rule.

I don’t think Arsenal is out of the tie, and I believe we have a great home advantage.  This habit of the Gunners doing things the hard way is what’s making my doctor contemplate referring me to a shrink.

Portuguese newspaper A Bola reports that Chelsea have expressed an interest in Porto’s €30 million centre-half Bruno Alves.

With “Mr Chelsea” John Terry’s future yet to be resolved it seems as if Carlo Ancelotti is lining up all his ducks in the unlikely scenario that the Blues sell their skipper.

Alves stands at  6'2 1/2" and has spent all his career contracted at Porto (although for three seasons he went out on loan to gain experience). It was not until 2006 that Alves got his chance with the first team, but when it arrived he grabbed the opportunity with both hands and become a stalwart of the team helping the club to four league titles and two Portuguese cups.

The Portuguese centre-half is a John Terry clone. He leads by example and is immensely brave. He is strong in the tackle and has great positional awareness. Similarly to Terry he lacks pace and requires a partner who can cover this deficiency.

Alves’ aerial prowess is legendary moping up everything in his own box whilst offering a threat at set pieces. The only criticism that may be made of him is that he leads with his foot high which will almost always culminate in the referee signalling for a foul.

Alves’ father, who doubles up as his agent, has stated that the player wants to leave Porto. At 27 he is entering what should be the best years of his career. Barcelona have been trailing the player this transfer window and so far have refused to meet the club’s valuation leaving a window of opportunity if Chelsea wish to buy him.

In the unlikely event that Terry leaves Chelsea, this is a player that will definitely interest the club, although a bidding war may erupt with Real also on the look out for a centre-half.

Video evidence showing off Bruno Alves’ tough-tackling can be seen here.

Velez Sarsfield v Huracan, Argentinean Clausura, July 5, 2009

Perhaps due to the two-way format of the Argentinean league (Apertura and Clausura), there always seems to be some crazy last day drama to keep fans on the end edge of their seat.

The Apertura championship in December went to a three-way play-off between San Lorenzo, Boca Juniors and Tigre and the Clausura is set for a thrilling finale with the top two facing off on the final day of the campaign. Huracan are currently first on 38 points with hosts Velez just a point behind.

Huracan, under coach Angel Cappa, have been the team of the Clausura in Argentina playing some scintillating attacking football that has had even the neutrals purring. The biggest clubs in Argentina have struggled in recent times due to the global economic issues, and Huracan, one of the poorest clubs in the country, have taken advantage.

Three players have been credited with steering Huracan to the top of the table, defensive midfielder Mario Bolatti (on loan from FC Porto) and attacking players Javier Pastore and Matias De Federico.

All three players are expected to move on in the coming weeks and Pastore and De Federico could well be moving to Europe. Pastore could be the heir to the Argentina number 10 shirt and looks to be a playmaker of real class whilst De Federico has been labeled the “new Messi” due to his similar playing style, quick footwork and fine pace.

Huracan set up this title clash with a 3-0 home win over Arsenal Sarandi which marked their fifth successive win, they have won all but one of their last ten games which included a 4-0 thrashing of River Plate.

Velez though, are slight favourites going into this match with home support and they also have a fine recent record. Ricardo Gareca’s side have won three of their last four (including a 2-0 defeat of Boca Juniors) and the 1-1 draw at Lanus two weeks ago, playing with just ten men, kept them off top spot going into the final day.

Like Huracan, Velez have some fine attacking talent that has emerged over the past few months. Uruguayan striker Hernan Lopez, 31, is the third top goal scorer in the Clausura whilst 20-year-old Jontahan Cristaldo is a forward who could be the future of the Argentinean national team. Sadly for Velez he will be missing from this game after injuring his knee against Lanus.

Velez also carry the reputation of knowing to play good football and have a depth and strength to their squad that could prove the difference against minnows Huracan. As Cappa puts it: “What one Velez player is worth is Huracan’s budget for two years. But in football terms we are equal.”

The majority of the headlines and feature stories on this match have concentrated on the Huracan fairytale and the opportunity to clinch only the second title ever, with the first one coming under Cesar Luis Menotti in 1973.

After Huracan’s last match, two fans were killed in the violence that seems to dominate in Argentinean football, this match won’t be for the faint of heart and Huracan’s talented youngsters will be put to the test.

Velez Sarsfield 11/10, Draw: 9/4, Huracan: 2/1

101gg predicts: Velez Sarsfield 1 – Huracan 2

Tonight Manchester United will step on the grass of the Estádio do Dragão in order to chew the hardball they couldn't finish at home. The reigning champions, already dreaming of the final with Barcelona, got scared twice by the modest Portuguese champions during the first leg of this game.

As for the FC Porto supporters, this slightly favorable result didn't come as a surprise—their mentality is tough, the club is treated with a plenty of hard love, and in no circumstance do they allow their players to go defensive and play for the draw.

In recent years Porto has demonstrated their qualities in the Champions League group stage, but then been prematurely eliminated in the next phase. When last summer the domestic rivals intended to eliminate Porto from the Champions League with some cunning bureaucraftship, based on the alleged corruption (twice discarded by the court of law), a common dream became to gain shape among the stunned Porto fans: this will be our year. So when the quarterfinal opponent came out,they were already prepared for any team in the world.

Vitor Baía, goalkeeper of the 2004 Champions League winning team, who continues with FC Porto now as the director of the external relations of the club, held it firmly right after the draw that dictated the encounter with Manchester United in the quarterfinals:

"Manchester United is a superpower of the football world, and we came out happy last time we encountered them. Although this is a whole different game, we keep our hope, because in this kind of game, both are favorites. We will assume our ambition to continue."

Baía claimed that the difference between the two clubs is of the economic nature, and even if the Manchester United budget is somewhat otherworldly compared to the one of Porto, in terms of experience, Manchester United and Porto are really very close in figures of participation and trophies won in the European competition.

There seems to prevail some ignorance about the position of the FC Porto in the European landscape, only dominating their "weak" domestic league quite incessantly for the last 20 years. Porto has regularly past the group stage of the CL, accusing anyhow more difficulties against the English teams.

As easy as it is to remember the striking numbers of their group stage away matches in Liverpool (4-1, in 2007) or Arsenal, it easily escapes from the average football spectator that they have actually given beautiful and thrilling performances against a parade of great clubs—as it happened last year, when a hint of bad luck and Schalke 04 goalkeeper's dream match at Dragão resulted to their elimination in the Round of 16. The only really bad European game I can remember was the latest Arsenal fiasco at Emirates when the current team of FC Porto was still very much in construction.

As talking about the weak Portuguese league, where the trophies might be bought in supermarket, as Sir Ferguson put it back in 2004, we might forget that FC Porto is itself the supermarket for the top European clubs. In England, particularly Chelsea is a well known client of Porto surplus, but also Manchester United fell in temptation with the young and brilliant Anderson, who in my opinion, could be Ferguson's wild card as he tries to gain the midfield of Dragão tonight.

This has been pointed out as the key weakness of the Dragons as competing with the European giants of football: Porto players can't resist the temptation of larger salaries and more outstanding leagues so the club loses every year its vital players.

Porto in effect has turned this weakness into virtue. Knowing the economic reality of Portugal, it seems that the cashflow of sales allows them to maintain the winning structure of the club organisation and feed the hungry dragons of the home stadium with victories, regardless of the changing the names on the equipment.

Actually in these times when the capital-driven football often reduces the concept of "forming the team" in a series of high-end market decisions, Porto seems to have found another niche in the player market. Their business mission could be described in terms of informatics: buy the hardware relatively cheap, install your own OS on it, and then sell the resulting top players expensive.

There is one thing you can't buy: experience. And somehow Porto has managed to accumulate the experience in spite of constant changes in its manpower. It's the culture of a hard-working club that makes the difference, and why not, the spirit and support that the inhabitants of the Invincible City give to the players of the club.

Despite these considerations of a passionate Porto supporter, tonight the pressure will be stronger on the side of holder of the trophy, who to guarantee their continuation have to play to make history: to beat the Portuguese team on their homeground.

As looking forward to a game, I hope that Porto will enter calm-minded, keeping up with their trademark, quality play with seamless teamwork that a week ago silenced the Old Trafford stadium.

The two teams will certainly enter with their finest selection of players, only Fucile lacking from the choices of Porto. Latest news unfortunately tell, that there will be now an unusual silence on the bench of Porto too: the coach Jesualdo Ferreira is punished by UEFA and can't assist the match . We'll see how FC Porto overcomes this problem.

If Porto can make it with honor tonight, it will be remembered as a sort of David's victory over Goliath. The rivals in the competition, such as Villarreal or Arsenal will join to the cheers of Porto fans!

If not, it will put an end to Porto's showcase in the European window for this season. Although the Porto center Bruno Alves would be first to disagree with the slogan "There's no such thing as bad publicity", certainly playing with the European champions is the best publicity a team can get at this stage.

So if the players of Porto won´t turn European champions this season, some of them will still turn some another year, maybe in another club.

That's just the way it goes in Porto.

Every player in Porto is champions' material!

Porto v. Manchester United

Wednesday, 15 April, 2009

Estadio do Dragao

Kickoff: 19:45

Porto

FC Porto drew 2-2 away with Manchester United in the first leg of their Champions League fixture last week to pick up two vital away goals.

In their Champions League campaign this season, Porto have won four, drawn three, and lost two, scoring 13 and conceding 12 goals in the process.

Porto will be without defender Jorge Fucile (ankle) for the match.

Manchester United

The 2-2 draw with Porto last week was Manchester United's sixth of their Champions League campaign this season, with the Red Devils winning three and drawing six so far, scoring 13 goals and conceding five in these matches.

Man Utd will welcome back Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand from injury if they feature in the match, as both players have been included in the squad that travelled to Portugal. Rafael and Anderson have also both been included, although they are still carrying minor injuries.

Prediction

Manchester United have still not recovered fully from their recent downturn in form, with their apparent defensive weakness still on show.

The Red Devils have conceded 12 goals in all competitions since the beginning of March, which is a far cry from the form that saw United go over three months (Nov. 15, 2008 to Feb. 21, 2009) without conceding a single goal in the Premier League.

However, if Rio Ferdinand does return from injury for this match, he will likely bring the experience and skill needed to stabilise the Man U backline and prevent further breaches.

Even with a strengthened defensive line, Manchester United face a very daunting task ahead of them—they will need to score at least two away goals in order to defeat a Porto side that has never lost to an English team on their home soil.

Man Utd undoubtedly have the talent and the mentality to overcome any opposition, as they have proved time and time again, but whether they will be able to do so in their current situation is far from a certainty.

At the end of the day, United's fate is in their own hands in this match; the defending champions have the stronger of the two sides, and so it will be up to Sir Alex Ferguson's men to put in the performance necessary to rewrite yet another record and progress through to the semifinals in the face of a challenging opposition.

Find the top odds from the best online bookmakers for this match at our Porto vs. Man Utd Betting Preview page now!

Then read our Arsenal vs. Villarreal preview too!