Porto out to build on Roma scalp as FCK visit

FC Porto and FC København will meet for the first time when they kick off their Group G campaigns at the Estádio do Dragão on matchday one.

Match background

Porto
• Third in the Portuguese top flight in 2015/16, Porto secured their sixth successive group-stage campaign in the UEFA Champions League with a 4-1 aggregate play-off victory over AS Roma. After a 1-1 first-leg draw in Portugal they prevailed 3-0 over nine-man Roma in the return, Felipe, Miguel Layún and Jesús Corona scoring.

• As the only club in Group G to have won the European Cup, two-time champions Porto will hope to go further than in 2015/16 when they finished third in their section behind Chelsea FC and FC Dynamo Kyiv. They subsequently exited the UEFA Europa League in the round of 32, beaten by Borussia Dortmund (0-3 aggregate).

• Porto are on a three-match winless run at home in European competition following losses to Dynamo (0-2) and Dortmund (0-1) last term and August's draw with Roma.

• This is Porto's first encounter with Danish opposition since the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League when they faced Aalborg BK in the group stage (2-0 home, 2-2 away).

• They have won all three previous home matches against Danish visitors, including a 1-0 home quarter-final success against Brøndby IF – courtesy of a Rabah Madjer goal – during their triumphant 1986/87 European Champion Clubs' Cup campaign.

København
• This fixture falls ten years and a day since København held SL Benfica to a 0-0 home draw on their debut appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Ståle Solbakken's Danish champions came through three qualifying rounds to reach the group. They beat Crusaders FC (9-0 aggregate), FC Astra Giurgiu (4-1 agg) and APOEL FC (2-1 agg). Federico Santander's 86th-minute equaliser in the 1-1 second-leg draw at APOEL took them over the final hurdle – and also ensured they remain unbeaten in Europe so far this season.

• København finished bottom of their section when they last competed in a group stage, in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League.

• They have appeared in the UEFA Champions League group stage three times before – in 2006/07, 2010/11 and 2013/14. Only once, in 2010/11, have they progressed to the knockout rounds.

Coach and player links
• Ludwig Augustinsson put a penalty past José Sá when Sweden beat Portugal in the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final in Prague. Sérgio Oliveira was captain of the beaten Portugal side.

• Silvestre Varela scored the 87th-minute winner past Stephan Andersen when Portugal beat Denmark 3-2 in the group stage at UEFA EURO 2012. William Kvist was in the Denmark side too and appeared as a substitute in Denmark's 1-0 loss to Portugal in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying in Braga in October last year.

• Yacine Brahimi came off the bench to score past Andersen for Stade Rennais FC against the Dane's Évian Thonon Gaillard FC in the 2011/2012 French Cup round of 16.

• Iker Casillas kept a clean sheet at the Parken with Spain in a 3-0 friendly win in August 2008. He had also won in Denmark with Spain the previous year – 3-1 in a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier in Aarhus in October 2007.

• Played together:
Laurent Depoitre & Erik Johansson (KAA Gent 2015/16)
Corona & Kasper Kusk (FC Twente 2014/15)

Match facts

André Silva has had a fine start to 2016/17©AFP/Getty Images

Porto
• André Silva, who scored in each of Porto's first three games this season, made his senior debut for Portugal in the 5-0 friendly win against Gibraltar on 1 September.

• Maxi Pereira suffered a right leg injury in the play-off second leg against AS Roma on 23 August, undergoing surgery the following day. He could be out until November.

• Summer signing Alex Telles was sent off on his Porto debut on 12 August in the 3-1 win away to Rio Ave, the fifth man to suffer that fate for the Dragons.

• Porto lost 2-1 to Sporting Clube de Portugal on 28 August, extending their run without a win in that away fixture to eight league seasons.

• Before seeing off Roma in the play-offs, Porto had never advanced in a UEFA competition tie after drawing the first leg 1-1 at home (three previous ties).

København
• København are a record 36 matches unbeaten at home in the Danish league (30 wins, six draws), stretching back to 15 August 2014 and a 2-1 loss to FC Midtjylland.

• København have scored in 19 consecutive Superliga matches and are nearing their record of 23 games set in 2005.

• Six København players were called up by Denmark during the international break, the largest contingent from the club in nine years: Mathias Zanka Jørgensen, Peter Ankersen, Rasmus Falk, Thomas Delaney, William Kvist and Andreas Cornelius.

• Falk suffered a head injury against APOEL on 24 August and withdrew from the Denmark squad after the Liechtenstein friendly but came off the bench in Saturday's 2-0 defeat of Odense BK.

• Cornelius scored his second senior goal for Denmark in the 5-0 win against Liechtenstein on 31 August and got the 90th-minute FCK clincher on Saturday.

• Robin Olsen and Ludwig Augustinsson (Sweden) and Ján Greguš (Slovakia) were also on international duty last week.

• Delaney will join SV Werder Bremen in January after signing a three-year contract on 17 August.

• FCK signed Nicolai Boilesen in August but the former Ajax captain is not expected to feature until December as he has not played competitive football since May 2015.