Brugge hungry for points against Porto

Club Brugge KV and FC Porto are both still pursuing a first win in Group G as they face off at the Jan Breydelstadion on matchday three.

Previous meetings
• Porto prevailed 5-3 on aggregate when the clubs met in the 1972/73 UEFA Cup second round.

• Porto won the first leg 3-0 at the Estádio das Antas through goals by Abel Miglieti (6, 49) and Flávio Fonseca (48). Although Club Brugge managed three goals in the return – through Ruud Geels (3), John Thio (45) and Nico Rijnders (65) – Flávio (34) and Miglieti (88) scored again for the visitors from Portugal.

Match background

Club Brugge
• Michel Preud'homme's Belgian champions are seeking their first point – and goal too – after defeats by Leicester City FC (0-3 home) and FC København (0-4 away).

• Brugge have lost four of their last five European home fixtures (W1 L4 F2 A11).

• They are unbeaten in four previous home matches against Portuguese visitors (W3 D1).

• Club Brugge's most recent encounter with a Portuguese club was against CS Marítimo in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage. A 2-0 home win, with goals by Carlos Bacca and Björn Vleminckx, was their only victory in a campaign that ended with them bottom of the group after a 2-1 matchday six loss in Madeira where Lior Refaelov found the net.

Porto
• Porto sit third in Group C after a home draw with FCK (1-1) and away defeat at Leicester (0-1).

• Nuno Espírito Santo's men have one impressive away result to their name already this season: a 3-0 triumph at AS Roma in the UEFA Champions League play-offs.

• Porto lost their first six away games against Belgian opposition before breaking their duck at KRC Genk in a 2010/11 UEFA Europa League play-off tie, winning 3-0 through goals from Radamel Falcao, Souza and Fernando Belluschi. Jelle Vossen was in the Genk side and scored his team's goals in their 4-2 second-leg loss in Portugal.

Coach and player links
• As R. Standard de Liège goalkeeper, Preud'homme got the better of Porto in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup quarter-finals (2-0 h, 2-2 a). 

• Preud'homme played in Portugal for SL Benfica from 1994 to 1999, winning the Portuguese Cup in 1996. He had a subsequent spell as technical director of the Lisbon club (1999–2000).

• His record as a Benfica player against Porto was P15 W3 D4 L8.

• Preud'homme was also in the Belgium side who took four points off Portugal in 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying (1-1 a, 3-0 h). Playing for KV Mechelen, meanwhile, he lost 3-2 (aggregate) to Sporting Clube de Portugal in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup first round.

• Nuno had mixed fortunes against Belgian opposition last season when facing KAA Gent in the UEFA Champions League with Valencia CF, winning 2-1 at home but losing 1-0 away.

• Laurent Depoitre lost three times at the Jan Breydelstadion with Gent last term. Overall he faced Club Brugge in seven matches in 2015/16 (W3 L4), scoring three times, including the only goal of the Belgian Super Cup on 16 July 2015.

Match facts

Club Brugge
• Timmy Simons and Rudy Vormer are both yellow cards away from a one-match ban.

• Brugge have won four of their last six games.

• José Izquierdo (groin) and Laurens De Bock (knee) suffered injuries in training on 1 October and were ruled out for four weeks.

• Björn Engels is expected to sit out the rest of the group stage after suffering a shoulder injury against Leicester on matchday one.

• Refaelov is likely to be sidelined until November. He underwent surgery on his pubis on 22 August.

• Ricardo van Rhijn scored his first goal for the club direct from a free-kick to earn a 1-0 win at home to Gent on 2 October in the Flanders derby.

Porto
• André Silva has scored seven goals in his last six matches for club and country.

• Diogo Jota scored a hat-trick, his first in senior level, as Porto beat CD Nacional on 1 October. At 19, he became the youngest Portuguese player to achieve the feat in a Porto shirt.

• André Silva, earning his fourth cap, hit a hat-trick as Portugal won 6-0 in the Faroe Islands on 10 October (Cristiano Ronaldo had to wait 106 caps for his first three-goal salvo). At 20, he is Portugal's youngest hat-trick scorer and, with the goals coming in the space of 25 minutes, also the quickest. He is the first Porto player to hit three in a game for Portugal in 88 years.

• André Silva had also scored three days earlier in the 6-0 triumph over Andorra.

• Diogo Jota claimed a goal and an assist in Portugal U21s' 3-3 draw against Hungary on 6 October. Five days later Rúben Neves was on target as Portugal rounded off 2017 U21 EURO qualifying unbeaten, winning 7-1 in Liechtenstein.

• Jesús Corona has been struggling with a thigh injury but returned to training on 11 October and was among the scorers as Porto beat GD Gafanha 3-0 in the Portuguese Cup on Saturday.