Chelsea and Porto meet in Group G decider

FC Porto's surprise defeat at home to FC Dynamo Kyiv on matchday five has made it a three-way fight for UEFA Champions League Group G's two qualifying spots and Chelsea FC will be banking on home advantage to carry them through – they have won all five games against Portuguese visitors.

• On 29 September Porto made it a miserable return to the Estádio do Dragão for José Mourinho as goals either side of half-time from André André and Maicon inflicted a 2-1 defeat, Willian having levelled just before the break.

• Chelsea's 4-0 win at Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC last time out put them on top of the section with ten points, the same as Porto; Dynamo are two behind.

• The winner of this game wins the group; Porto will top it with a draw should Dynamo not win at home to Maccabi. If Dynamo win and this game is drawn, Chelsea finish second and Porto go into the UEFA Europa League.

Previous meetings
• Porto's victory in the reverse fixture was only their second in seven encounters; Chelsea have won four, including the previous three, each by a one-goal margin.

• They faced each other in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage when Chelsea came out on top home and away: both by 1-0 with Nicolas Anelka on target each time in the second half.

• The lineups at Stamford Bridge on 25 November 2009 were:
Chelsea: Čech, Ivanović, A Cole, Carvalho, Terry, Essien, Lampard, Ballack, Malouda, Kalou (Belletti 77), Anelka.
Porto: Helton, Fucile, Rolando, Bruno Alves, Álvaro Pereira, Fernando, Mariano González (Falcao 54), Guarín, Raul Meireles, Rodríguez (Varela 64), Hulk.

• Two years before, in the first knockout round, Chelsea held on for a 1-1 draw in Portugal before winning 2-1 at home.

• In the 2004/05 group stage, Mourinho's first season with Chelsea having left Porto after guiding them to their 2004 UEFA Champions League triumph, Chelsea won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge while Porto prevailed 2-1 at home.

Match background

Chelsea
• The London club began their 14th group stage campaign with a 4-0 home win over Maccabi. They bounced back from their loss at Porto by drawing 0-0 away and winning 2-1 at home against Dynamo, before another 4-0 triumph against Maccabi in Israel in their last fixture.

• Last year Chelsea took seven points from their three home group games, winning their section for the ninth time in their last 12 campaigns. They finished runners-up in two other years and were eliminated in the group stage only once, in 2012/13.

• Chelsea's record against Portuguese clubs is W9 D1 L2. They beat Benfica in the 2013 UEFA Europa League final when Branislav Ivanović's header in the last minute of added time earned a 2-1 win at the Amsterdam ArenA.

• Mourinho lifted the UEFA Champions League with Porto (2004) and FC Internazionale Milano (2010) and is bidding to become the first head coach to win the European Cup with three different teams.

Porto
• The two-time European Cup winners (1986/87 was their other triumphant campaign) scored at least twice in going unbeaten in their first four games but then came unstuck against Dynamo.

• They had begun their 20th group stage campaign with a 2-2 draw in Kyiv. After the first Chelsea fixture they beat Maccabi 2-0 at home and 3-1 away.

• Porto hope to improve on last season's run to the quarter-finals where they lost 7-4 on aggregate to FC Bayern München, suffering a 6-1 second-leg loss in Germany.

• Before that game Julen Lopetegui's men had been unbeaten on the road in the competition, play-offs included, winning three of their five fixtures. They have only lost three of their last 14 away European games, winning five.

• Porto were unbeaten away from home in the 2014/15 group stage, collecting seven points on their travels.

• Porto last faced English opponents in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32, losing 2-1 at home to Manchester City FC and 4-0 away. They have played 31 games against English clubs in Europe with the record W7 D8 L16 (W7 D6 L3 at home).

Coach and player links
• Iker Casillas played under José Mourinho at Real Madrid CF from 2010 to 2013.

• Radamel Falcao played for Porto from 2009 to 2011. 

• Diego Costa scored past Helton in Club Atlético de Madrid's 2-0 win against Porto in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Falcao scored past Gianelli Imbulla's Olympique de Marseille and Vincent Aboubakar's FC Lorient in AS Monaco FC's 2-1 and 1-0 victories respectively in 2013/14; past Casillas in Madrid's 4-1 triumph over Atlético in the 2011/12 Liga and again in another defeat (1-2) the following season.

• In the 2014/15 Ligue 1 campaign, Aboubakar and Falcao swapped goals in Monaco's 2-1 defeat by Lorient.

• Cesc Fàbregas scored past Casillas for FC Barcelona in the 2011/12 Liga season and past Helton in the 2011 UEFA Super Cup between Porto and the Blaugrana.

• Pedro Rodríguez has scored four goals past Casillas – in the 2009/10 and 2010/11 Liga, 2010/11 UEFA Champions League semi-finals and 2012 Spanish Super Cup.

• International team-mates:
Casillas, Cristian Tello, & César Azpilicueta, Cesc Fàbregas, Pedro Rodríguez, Diego Costa (Spain)

• Played together:
Maxi Pereira & Ramires (2009/10) & Matić (2011–14) (Benfica)
Cristian Tello & Fàbregas (Barcelona)

Match facts

Chelsea
• Nemanja Matić is a booking away from a ban.

• Chelsea had kept three successive clean sheets before losing 1-0 at home to struggling AFC Bournemouth on 5 December.

• John Terry has not played since sustaining an ankle injury on matchday five.

• Willian has scored six goals for Chelsea this season – all of them have been free-kicks.

• Mourinho has suffered eight league defeats in a season for the first time as a manager.

• Gary Cahill signed a new four-year contract on 2 December.

Porto
• Danilo and Maxi Pereira are a booking away from a ban.

• The 2-0 loss to Dynamo on matchday five was Porto's first reverse in 21 games, since the 6-1 defeat by Bayern in the second leg of their 2014/15 UEFA Champions League quarter-final.

• Porto returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory at CD Tondela on 28 November, a match in which Maicon – making his return as a 77th-minute substitute after seven weeks out with a thigh injury – conceded a penalty.

• Danilo rounded off the scoring with his first goal for Porto as Lopetegui's charges prevailed 4-0 at lowly CF União da Madeira on 2 December. Pablo Osvaldo was sent off with 16 minutes remaining.

• Porto made it four wins in a row in the league as they came from behind to see win 2-1 against FC Paços de Ferreira on 5 December, Miguel Layún's second-half penalty decisive.