Champions League Matchday 1: Porto vs Manchester City facts

Porto return to the UEFA Champions League with a home game against 2023 champions Manchester City, who are unbeaten in their four previous fixtures against the Portuguese club.

Previous meetings

Porto's record against City is D1 L3 with two goals scored and nine conceded. City won both matches in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32 (2-1 a, 4-0 h), before beating Porto 3-1 at home and drawing 0-0 away in the 2020/21 Champions League group stage.

Last season's 0-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest in the UEFA Europa League quarter-final second leg (1-2 aggregate) made it five games without a victory (D2 L3) against English opponents for Porto, who have won only two of their last 16 matches against Premier League clubs (D4 L10).

The Dragons were unbeaten in their first 11 home games against English visitors (W5 D6) but have lost seven of their subsequent 14 (W4 D3), winning one of the last eight (D3 L4).

City have lost only two of their 11 matches against Portuguese teams (W6 D3) although they were beaten in the most recent, 4-1 at Sporting CP on Matchday 4 of the 2024/25 Champions League.

Form guide

Porto

This is Porto's 28th Champions League campaign – a Portuguese record, eight more than Benfica – but a first in three seasons. Only Real Madrid, Barcelona (both 31) and Bayern München (30) have featured more. Porto's last two campaigns have ended in the round of 16, the most recent a 2023/24 defeat on penalties by Arsenal.

The Dragons were Europa League quarter-finalists in 2025/26, losing 1-2 on aggregate to Nottingham Forest. They had finished fifth in the league phase (W5 D2 L1) before beating Stuttgart 4-1 on aggregate in the last 16.

Manchester City

This is City's 16th successive season in the Champions League proper, the longest current streak by an English team; they have featured in every campaign since 2011/12 and have reached the knockout stages in each of the last 12.

Having finished eighth in last season's league phase (W5 D1 L2), City lost to Real Madrid in the round of 16 (0-3 a, 1-2 h) – the third successive season in which they had been eliminated by the Spanish side.

City have won six and drawn one of their last seven Matchday 1 fixtures, since a 1-2 defeat by Lyon in 2018/19.

Links and trivia

Porto have won eight of their last ten Champions League group stage/league phase matches (L2), scoring two or more goals in eight of those ten fixtures.

The Portuguese side have lost only one of their last 14 home European games (W10 D3).

This is Manchester City's 150th European Cup match.

City have lost only two of their last nine league phase matches (W6 D1).

The Cityzens have, however, been beaten in six of their last nine away Champions League games (W2 D1).

Each of City's last 19 Champions League matches has produced two or more goals.