Barcelona head into what on paper is their trickiest clash in their Champions League group stage, as they visit the Estadio do Dragao in Porto. The home side beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in Poland, while Barcelona thumped Royal Antwerp 5-0 in their opening fixture, meaning top spot is on the line for both.
The Blaugrana have hit the breaks a little, after beating Celta Vigo 3-2, drawing with Real Mallorca 2-2, and then scraping past Sevilla 1-0 on Friday. Meanwhile Porto had won three in a row previously, but were defeated in a derby with Benfica on Friday night 1-0.
Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Raphinha are all missing for the Blaugrana, while the hosts are without Pepe, Ivan Marcano, Zaidu, Evanilson and Gabriel Veron. Sport predict that Lamine Yamal will continue in his starting role, while Ronald Araujo will return at the back. Pivot Oriol Romeu will also come back into the side at the expense of Raphinha.
Otherwise it looks as if Barcelona will remain the same, with MD‘s only discrepancy that Ferran Torres could start ahead of Lamine Yamal. Mehdi Taremi is expected to lead the line, while Galeno and Pepe will look to attack the space vacated by Alejandro Balde and Joao Cancelo.
Fermin Lopez put in a man of the match performance after replacing Raphinha on Friday, but it looks as if Xavi Hernandez is more likely to make him wait for his first start. Barcelona seem unlikely to take too many risks, given their struggles to get out of the group in the last two seasons.
