Porto v Rangers facts

Porto welcome Rangers to northern Portugal with all four teams in Group G on three points, the two opponents at the Estádio do Dragão having both won on Matchday 1 and lost on Matchday 2.

• Porto kicked off with a 2-1 home win against Young Boys before falling to a 0-2 defeat at Feyenoord, whereas Rangers followed their opening 1-0 win against the Rotterdam club by surrendering a lead against the Swiss champions in Berne and losing 2-1 to an added-time winner.

Previous meetings
• There have been four previous UEFA encounters between the clubs, in the 1983/84 European Cup Winners' Cup second round and the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, Rangers winning both games in Scotland and Porto winning and drawing the two matches in Portugal. Porto won the 1983/84 tie on away goals en route to an appearance in that season's final, which they lost to Juventus.

• Porto are undefeated in five home games against Scottish clubs (W3 D2), most recently defeating Celtic 3-0 in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage. They beat the same opponents 3-2 after extra time in the following season's UEFA Cup final in Seville.

• Rangers are unbeaten on their last four visits to the Portuguese mainland (W2 D2), a run that includes a memorable 2-0 second-leg win at Sporting CP that sent them through to the 2007/08 UEFA Cup semi-finals (0-0 h). Their last defeat away to a Portuguese club came on the island of Madeira when they lost 1-0 at Marítimo in the first leg of a 2004/05 UEFA Cup first-round tie that they went on to win on penalties.

Form guide
Porto
• Domestic runners-up in league and cup last season – to Benfica and Sporting respectively – Porto also reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where they were beaten by eventual winners Liverpool (0-2 a, 1-4 h).

• The Dragons' bid to return to the UEFA Champions League group stage this term – for a record-equalling 24th time – ended in the third qualifying round when they lost on away goals to Russian debutants Krasnodar, winning the first leg in Russia 1-0 but losing the home return 2-3 after being three goals down at half-time. That defeat sent them directly into the UEFA Europa League group stage, where they have competed just once before – in 2010/11, when they won the trophy.

• Since that 2010/11 triumph Porto have played 12 matches in the competition, winning just three and losing six. Their UEFA Europa League group stage record, however, is W6 D1 L1, registering three wins and a draw at home.

Rangers
• Rangers qualified for 2019/20 European competition as runners-up to Celtic in last season's Scottish Premiership. They also won four qualifying ties to reach the UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time, but just one win and six points prevented them from making further progress.

• Once again Rangers were obliged to come through four qualifiers to reach this season's group stage, defeating St Joseph's, Progrès Niederkorn, Midtjylland and, in the play-offs, Legia Warszawa, a late Alfredo Morelos winner in the second leg at Ibrox providing the only goal of the tie.

• Rangers failed to win an away fixture on their UEFA Europa League group stage debut last season, drawing at Villarreal (2-2) before losing at Spartak Moskva (3-4) and Rapid Wien (0-1). The Matchday 2 loss at Young Boys prolonged that sequence but it is their only defeat in Europe this season, the other nine games having provided seven wins, two draws and seven clean sheets.

Links and trivia 
• Morelos, who is a Colombia team-mate of Porto midfielders Luis Díaz and Mateus Uribe, was the top scorer in this season's UEFA Europa League qualifying phase with eight goals.

• Rangers manager Steven Gerrard scored a penalty in a 4-1 win for Liverpool at Anfield against Porto in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage. He was also on the winning side for the Merseysiders against Porto in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup quarter-finals (0-0 a, 2-0 h).

• Gerrard and his Porto counterpart Sérgio Conceição were opponents for England and Portugal respectively in a friendly at Villa Park, Birmingham in September 2002 (1-1).

• Pepe scored both Porto goals in their 3-2 defeat by Rangers at Ibrox in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League.

• Porto are one of three clubs to have won the UEFA Europa League on their debut appearance, the others being Atlético Madrid in the inaugural 2009/10 competition and Chelsea in 2012/13.

• Porto are one of three former UEFA Europa League winners in this season's group stage, along with Sevilla and Manchester United.

• Rangers are one of only two clubs to have reached this season's group stage after beginning their UEFA Europa League journey in the first qualifying round, Malmö being the other.

The coaches
• A Portuguese international winger of some repute who scored 12 goals in 56 appearances for his country including a memorable hat-trick against holders Germany in a 3-0 win at UEFA EURO 2000, Sérgio Conceição played for a variety of clubs, winning Serie A with Lazio and three Portuguese Liga titles in two spells with Porto, where he was appointed as head coach in June 2017, replacing Nuno Espírito Santo following a promising stint in France with Nantes. He led Porto to another league title in 2017/18 and the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals the following season.

• A Liverpool legend with 186 goals in 710 appearances for the Anfield club, most of them as captain, Gerrard launched his managerial career at Glasgow giants Rangers in May 2018. An England international for 14 years, accumulating 114 caps and 21 goals, the dynamic midfielder won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League with Liverpool as well as both domestic cups. After an 18-month end-of-career spell with LA Galaxy he returned to coach Liverpool's youth team before the job at Ibrox lured him to Scotland, where he led the Gers to second place in the 2018/19 Premiership.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Europa League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.