Porto seek belated change of luck at Atlético

After their 1-1 home draw with FK Austria Wien last time out, FC Porto visit Club Atlético de Madrid in need of a dramatic change of fortune to avoid an early exit from the UEFA Champions League.

• Porto enter the final round of Group G fixtures a point behind second-placed FC Zenit and needing both to beat Atlético and for Zenit to slip up in their fixture against bottom club Austria.

• Unbeaten Atlético won 2-1 when the sides met in Portugal in September and another victory for Diego Simeone's group winners would ensure a complete role reversal of what happened when the clubs met in the 2009/10 group stage. Then it was Porto who qualified,  with Atlético – beaten home and away by the Portuguese side – in third place.

Previous meetings
• Prior to this season, the clubs' four past encounters all came in 2009, starting with a Porto success by the narrowest of margins in the 2008/09 round of 16. Although Abel Resino's Atlético led twice in the first leg in Madrid – Maxi Rodríguez (3) and Diego Forlán (45) scoring – Porto responded each time through Lisandro (22, 72), and a goalless draw in the return leg took Jesualdo Ferreira's team into the quarter-finals.

• Porto came out on top again when the clubs pitted wits in the next season's group stage. Then, as now, the clubs met on matchdays two and six, with Porto 2-0 victors in the first meeting at the Estádio do Dragão thanks to goals by Falcao (75) – a future Atlético striker – and Rolando (82).

• By the time the sides renewed acquaintance in their final group fixture, Porto were already sure of progress to the knockout stage while Atlético had replaced Resino with Quique Sánchez Flores. Porto came away with a 3-0 victory, Bruno Alves (2), Falcao (14) and Hulk (76) scoring to inflict Atlético's first home defeat by Spanish visitors. The Rojiblancos would find a silver lining by winning the UEFA Europa League.

• The lineups for that encounter in Madrid on 8 December 2009 were:
Atlético: Asenjo, Valera, (López 46), Juanito, Perea, Álvaro Domínguez, Paulo Assunção, Cléber Santana, Maxi Rodríguez (Reyes 68), Simão, Agüero (Jurado 48), Forlán.
Porto: Helton, Jorge Fucile, Maicon (Săpunaru 59), Bruno Alves, Álvaro Pereira, Fernando, Raul Meireles, Valeri (Guarín 62), Cristian Rodríguez, Falcao (Silvestre Varela 70), Hulk.

Match background
• It was on Spanish soil that Porto's UEFA Champions League hopes evaporated last term with a 2-0 defeat at Málaga CF in the round of 16. A Porto side coached by Vítor Pereira had won the first leg 1-0 through a João Moutinho goal but slipped to a 2-0 loss in southern Spain with Steven Defour sent off for two bookable offences.

• Paulo Fonseca's men are unbeaten away from home in Group G, having won 1-0 at Austria Wien and drawn 1-1 at Zenit. Atlético, however, have won nine of ten European home games under Simeone, including Group G victories against Zenit (3-1) and Austria (4-0).

• Porto's overall record away to Spanish sides is W5 D2 L12. Their most recent victory came during their triumphant 2010/11 UEFA Europa League campaign when Rolando and Fredy Guarín scored in a 2-1 victory at Sevilla FC in the round of 32 – a result that eventually secured their passage on away goals after they lost the second leg 1-0 at home.

• Atlético's 2-0 defeat at A. Académica de Coimbra in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage ended their 16-match winning sequence in UEFA competition. They had previously beaten Académica 2-1 at home, Diego Costa and Emre Belözoğlu scoring.

• Atlético's overall home record against Portuguese opposition is W4 D2 L1.

• Porto have faced two Spanish sides in the UEFA Super Cup, losing 2-1 against Valencia CF in 2004 and 2-0 against FC Barcelona in 2011.

Team ties
• As an SS Lazio player, Simeone was on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat at Porto in the semi-finals of the 2002/03 UEFA Cup. Simeone was an unused substitute in the scoreless second leg as José Mourinho's Porto advanced to a final in which they beat Celtic FC in Seville.

• This fixture takes Cristián Rodríguez back to Porto, who he served for four seasons between 2008 and 2012, making 70 league appearances and scoring 12 goals.

• Tiago faced Porto nine times during spells at SC Braga and SL Benfica, scoring once and winning just once. As a Chelsea FC player, he faced Porto again in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage, helping the English club win 3-1 at home before a 2-1 defeat in Portugal.

• Emiliano Insúa made 37 league appearances for Sporting Clube de Portugal between 2011 and 2013. He played three times against Porto as Sporting posted two defeats and one draw.

• Diego Costa started his career in European football in Portugal where he made six league appearances for Braga in 2006/07 after 13 on loan at FC Penafiel, where he scored five goals.

• David Villa played in Barcelona's 2011 UEFA Super Cup defeat of Porto. He had struck the only goal when Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the round of 16 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• Defour was in the Belgium side beaten 2-1 at home by Spain thanks to Villa's 88th-minute winner in a 2010 World Cup qualifier in October 2008; later in the same campaign, Villa scored twice more as Spain beat Defour's Belgium 5-0 in Madrid, with Toby Alderweireld watching from the bench.

• Eliaquim Mangala and Josuha Guilavogui are former France Under-21 team-mates.