Chelsea refresh Porto ties

Chelsea will hope to continue their trend of starting a UEFA Champions League season well when they play host to FC Porto in Group D. The London club have kicked off with three points five times in seven campaigns so far, inflicting a 4-0 defeat on FC Girondins de Bordeaux at Stamford Bridge a year ago.

Previous meetings
• The clubs have met in two recent UEFA Champions League campaigns, in the 2006/07 first knockout round and in the group stage two seasons earlier. That was former coach José Mourinho's first season with Chelsea, having left Porto after guiding them to their 2004 UEFA Champions League triumph.

• Chelsea won the first 2004/05 meeting 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, with Didier Drogba and John Terry on the scoresheet but Porto got their revenge in the reverse, winning 2-1.

• In 2006/07 Chelsea drew 1-1 away in the first knockout round with Raul Meireles giving Porto the lead. Michael Ballack then scored the decisive goal in a 2-1 home win after Ricardo Quaresma had fired Porto ahead.

• The teams for the 21 February 2007 game at Estádio do Dragão were:
Porto: Helton, Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile (Bruno Moraes 65), Lucho, Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles (Marek Čech 56), Lisandro, Hélder Postiga (Adriano 77), Quaresma.
Chelsea: Petr Čech, Diarra, Terry (Robben 13, Mikel Obi 46), Carvalho, Bridge, Makelele, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Shevchenko (Kalou 88), Drogba.

• The teams for the 6 March 2007 return were:
Chelsea: Petr Čech, Diarra (Ferreira 66), Essien, Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Makelele (Mikel Obi 46), Robben, Ballack, Lampard, Shevchenko (Kalou 84), Drogba.
Porto: Helton, Marek Čech (Adriano 56), Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho, Ricardo Costa, Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles (Ibson 56), Quaresma, Lisandro (Bruno Moraes 82).

Match background
• Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea's fourth manager since the departure of Mourinho, is attempting to become only the second man after Ottmar Hitzfeld to lift the UEFA Champions League trophy with different clubs after guiding AC Milan to the title in 2003 and 2007.

• Chelsea are on an 18-match unbeaten run in the competition at Stamford Bridge dating back to February 2006 when FC Barcelona triumphed 2-1 in the first knockout round first leg.

• In four of the last six campaigns, Chelsea topped their group. Last season they were runners-up behind AS Roma and won all three home fixtures, following that success over Bordeaux with victories against AS Roma (1-0) and CFR 1907 Cluj (2-1). In the knockout rounds at home they beat Juventus 1-0 and then were held to a 4-4 draw by Liverpool and 1-1 by Barcelona, the latter result in the semi-finals meant elimination on away goals after a goalless first leg.

• Porto are embarking on their seventh consecutive group-stage campaign and only once in that time have they failed to progress to the knockout phase. They began last season with a 3-1 home win against Fenerbahçe SK but that was the only time in six attempts they have launched their campaign with a victory.

• Porto nevertheless have a decent away record in the opening fixture, winning two and drawing one of their last four fixtures.

• Porto reached the quarter-finals last season, bowing out to Manchester United FC after a 1-0 defeat at Estádio do Dragão with the Old Trafford game ending 2-2. In the group stage they followed their trip to Arsenal by winning 2-1 at both FC Dynamo Kyiv and Fenerbahçe. In the first knockout round they eliminated Club Atlético de Madrid on away goals, drawing 2-2 in Spain and 0-0 at home.

Team ties
• Five Chelsea players have previously turned out for Porto: Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira (joined in summer 2004), Henrique Hilário (July 2006), José Bosingwa and Deco (summer 2008).

• During the summer Porto signed Alvaro Pereira, part of the CFR Cluj defence which earned a 0-0 home draw against Chelsea in last season's UEFA Champions League.