3rd or 4th for you I reckon

 

lol.

How did you guys do for your group draw?

 

Porto stand a decent chance. Good luck! :smileani:

 

Atlético seems stronger this year and Porto seems weaker but it's still early to tell. Good luck anyway.

 

Thanks my dear rivals.

 

Jesualdo has named 19 players to travel to London for Tuesday's first CL game at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.

Diego Valeri has been excluded from the squad that beat Leixoes 4-1 yesterday, while Sapunaru and Fredy Guarin have been added.

--

GK: Helton, Nuno Espirito Santo
DF: Cristian Sapunaru, Jorge Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Maicon, Alvaro Pereira
MF: Fredy Guarin, Fernando, Tomas Costa, Raul Meireles, Fernando Belluschi
FW: Cristian Rodriguez, Silvestre Varela, HULK, Ernesto Farias, Falcao, Mariano Gonzalez

Injured: Orlando Sa, Miguel Lopes
Not Called: Diego Valeri

 

Two surprises as Jesualdo goes with Mariano, his English killer, over Falcao, as well as the physical Guarin over Belluschi's creative style.

We'll see, I'm not optimistic for this game but we can afford to lose this one and still progress. A draw would be really nice, though.

Helton
Fucile - Rolando - Bruno Alves - Pereira
Fernando
Fredy Guarin - Raul Meireles
Mariano - Hulk - Rodriguez​

Bench: Nuno, Maicon, Sapunaru, Tomas Costa, Belluschi, Varela, Falcao

 

FORÇA PORTO!!!

 

Hats off to Porto for this first half. Great determination to win the ball from Chelsea and some dangerous moves upfront. Just a shame that Mariano is such a waste of space of a player.

It's clear that Chelsea is missing very much the presences of Deco, Bosingwa and, above all, Drogba, as those playing in their places have been close to woeful, but they're not exactly playing with their B-team.

 

Good game guys, hard fought but Chelsea didn't look like the same Chelsea we're used to seeing.

 

1-0 to Chelsea FT

Porto had a great game and with a bit of luck could have even grabbed a point but it's also true that Helton tonight saved your asses.

Looking at Atlético's form and also after their result tonight you'll probably cruise to the knock-out stages behind Chelsea.

 

Good game by Porto.

 

Well played.

 

i must have seen a different game..... porto was about 80% of the time playing in their own half of the pitch, and was very lucky not to suffer more goals. The 1st half specially was dreadful

jesualdo was clueless by insisting on having mariano on the filed for all the time he did, as hulk was a lonesome man for more than half the game. Rodriguez had a terrible game aswell, which didnt help , so hulk's efforts were fruitless

once varela and falcão finally got into the game it was clear to see how things might have been different if jesualdo had taken a different option from the start

varela is in a real great shape, and was really close to score towards the end of the game, and even guarin stepped up once he and falcão got into the game, and he himself was really close to score

a totally different porto since the change happenned, and had it been made a LOT earlier, porto might have had something to say

 

Proud of the boys, but the streak continues as we cannot win in England.

Atletico and the other team tied, so I don't have any concerns for our qualification as we'll beat Atletico ourselves.

 

why is Jesualdo such a coward?

I have no doubts if he fielded two proper attackers next to HULK (and two regular attackers) we could have even won the match.

ffs.

 

This team is actually setup perfectly for a 4-4-2. Two hard working wingers with one fixed striker next to a mobile forward.

Helton
Fucile - Rolando - Bruno - Pereira
Varela - Fernando - Meireles - Rodriguez
Falcao - Hulk

That should be the team.

 

I like the 4-3-3 that we've played in recent years, I like Varela but in big European matches I think he's better as a 60th or 70th minute sub who can use his explosive pace to destroy tired defenders.

We just need to gel Valeri in the team, he's too good to be on the bench. If he settles, the team is perfect.

 

I didn't see the first half at all Ana, but second half was all Football Corrupto do Porto. Varela's in great shape and Falcao's very dynamic.

 

yes, once varela and falcão got into the gamne, porto was the better team, but that only happenned late in the game...

anyways yes, varela is in great shape, and i had never seen falcão play, so it was quite a pleasant surprise, since he has a great touch with the ball and is not a static player at all. And that pass he did in the box, top

 

We welcome Atletico Madrid back to the Dragao on Wednesday, and we'll be missing 5 players. Cristian Rodriguez and Silvestre Varela, our two best wingers, are both injured. Fernando, the rock solid DM of our midfield, is suspended. Finally, both Miguel Lopes and Orlando Sa are still hurt as well.

 

Squad list, with the only change from the weekend being the 18 year old junior player Ricardo Dias who is a starter for the Portuguese U-19s. He replaces Fernando who is suspended and will be a huge loss for us.

GK: Helton, Beto
DF: Fucile, Sapunaru, Rolando, Maicon, Bruno Alves, Pereira
MF: Ricardo Dias, Tomas Costa, Fredy Guarin, Raul Meireles, Diego Valeri, Fernando Belluschi
FW: HULK, Mariano, Falcao, Farias

Injured: Varela, Rodriguez, Miguel Lopes, Orlando Sa
Suspended: Fernando
Technical Decision: Nuno Espirito Santo, Nuno Andre Coelho, Sebastien Prediger(not registered for CL)

 

2-0 final.

FALCAO, the machine, and Rolando with the goals.

Dominating second half from us after a somewhat poor first half. 10 shots on target in total, a very productive, attacking game.

Great step towards another year of Knockout Stage football.

 

Congrats Josh, pun

It was very even until Falcao scored the winner and then everything went downhill.

 

Yeah, Falcao finds the solution every time. This guy's pure gold.

 

Lucky Porto for signing him in the middle of the whole crisis in Argentina, couldn't quite believe my eyes when I saw the price-tag, but you guys only bought 60% of his rights I believe.