Liga NOS: FC Porto's X-Ray

The first "clássico" of the season takes place Sunday, at 5:30 pm, at Estádio da Luz. A FC Porto with several changes in the squad travels to the Cathedral to lock horn with Benfica.

The blue and whites reach the big match from week 7 of the Liga NOS one point ahead of the Reds (15 against 14), the fruit of five victories and one loss.

The start of Liga NOS occurred with victories: 5-0 against Chaves, with goals from Aboubakar (2), Brahimi, Corona and Marius; 2-3 against Belenenses (Diogo Leite, Otávio and Alex Telles).

In matchday 3, V. Guimarães led by Luís Castro beat Porto at the Dragão, by 2-3 (Brahimi and André Pereira).

Next came the victory over Moreirense, by 3-0 (Herrera, Aboubakar and Marega), and two 1-all draws against Chaves (League Cup) and Schalke 04 (Champions League). In the last two matches in the Liga NOS, Benfica´s opponent beat V. Setúbal, away, by 0-2 (Aboubakar and Sérgio Oliveira), and Tondela, by 1-0 (Soares), at the Dragão.

In the last match before the "clássico", FC Porto hosted and beat the Turks of Galatasaray, by 1-0. Marega scored the only goal of the match from matchday 2 of the Champions League.

Several changes in the squad and a standard starting XI almost without new signings

Despite the several new signings that arrived at FC Porto in the start of 2018/19, only Éder Militão seems to have earned the Sérgio Conceição's trust to be a starter. He made his debut against Moreirense with 90’ and never left.

Sérgio Conceição has started the matches almost always in 4x4x2, with a standard starting XI where there is only a new signing (marked in bold): Casillas; Maxi Pereira, Felipe, Éder Militão, Alex Telles; Sérgio Oliveira, Herrera, Otávio e Brahimi; Marega and Aboubakar.

Set Pieces and ball possession

In Portugal, in large part of the matches, Benfica and FC Porto are dominant and have the statistics in their favor. According to Wyscout, the blue and whites are a team that likes to shoot. With an average of over 15 attempts per match, the men under Sérgio Conceição never made less than a dozen shots.

In average, FC Porto carries out 433 passes per match (efficacy of 84%) and has ball possession around  55%. However, against Moreirense, Belenenses, and Galatasaray, it had less ball possession than the opponents: 42%, 46% and 48%, respectively.

With regard to set pieces, 70% of the corner in favor result in a shot, as well as 40% of the free kicks.

Transfers at FC Porto

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Liga Portugal and Facebook FC Porto