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Porto prepare for tough City test

Holders FC Porto have been given a stiff test in the shape of fellow autumn UEFA Champions League participants Manchester City FC, who face their first Portuguese opponents in 32 years.

Porto are hoping for more UEFA Europa League glory
Porto are hoping for more UEFA Europa League glory ©Getty Images

Holders FC Porto will look to make the best of a tough draw as they take on fellow former UEFA Champions League participants Manchester City FC in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Previous meetings
• The sides have been paired for the first time in UEFA competition although they did meet in a 2006 pre-season friendly at the City of Manchester Stadium. Porto won 1-0 courtesy of Adriano's 43rd-minute strike.

• Porto have played 28 games against English clubs in Europe with the record W6 D8 L14 (W6 D6 L2 at home).

• Porto have welcomed City's neighbours Manchester United FC four times, recording two wins, a draw and a defeat. At Old Trafford they drew 1-1 in 2003/04 and 2-2 in 2008/09, losing in 1977 and 1997. Their ten other visits to England have all also ended in defeat.

• City's only previous meeting with Portuguese opponents came in the quarter-finals of their triumphant 1969/70 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup campaign, when they drew 0-0 at A. Académica de Coimbra before Tony Towers scored the only goal of the tie in the 119th minute at Maine Road.

Match background
• Both teams finished third in their respective UEFA Champions League groups; Porto lost out to APOEL FC and FC Zenit St Petersburg in Group G, while FC Bayern München and SSC Napoli took the first two places in Group A ahead of City.

• Porto are unbeaten in seven European home games – five wins and two draws – since a 1-0 defeat by Sevilla FC in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 second leg. They have drawn their last two home matches.

• Porto's two most recent UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League campaigns, in 2002/03 and last season, ended with them winning the tournament; they have not lost a two-legged tie since a 2-0 aggregate defeat by Liverpool FC in the 2000/01 quarter-finals.

• City are playing in the round of 32 for the third time in four seasons; they eliminated FC København in 2008/09, going on to reach the last eight, and beat Aris Thessaloniki FC last season before bowing out to FC Dynamo Kyiv in the last 16.

• Roberto Mancini's men have won only one of their last seven European away games, a 3-0 victory at Villarreal CF in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage in a run of two draws and four defeats.

Team facts
• The second leg of this tie will be City's 50th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League game; they have conceded 47 goals.

• Mancini captained UC Sampdoria and scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Porto in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals; his side had lost 1-0 at home but progressed with a penalty shoot-out success.

• As a coach Mancini has come up against Porto six times with the record W2 D2 L2 (W0 D1 L2 away).

• Mancini's S.S. Lazio faced Porto in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup semi-finals, losing 4-1 on aggregate.

• His FC Internazionale Milano side overcame Porto 4-2 on aggregate in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League round of 16. The sides met again in the following season's group stage, Porto winning 2-0 at home but losing 2-1 at San Siro.

• Nigel de Jong and Vincent Kompany took on Porto with Hamburger SV in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage; De Jong played in a 4-1 defeat in Porto while Kompany featured in Hamburg's 3-1 home loss.

• Gaël Clichy and Samir Nasri played in the Arsenal FC side that eliminated Porto 6-2 overall in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League round of 16; Nasri scored in Arsenal's 5-0 second-leg victory in London.

• Clichy, Nasri and Kolo Touré also took on Porto in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage, Arsenal winning 4-0 in London; none of them featured in Porto's 2-0 home win.

• Touré played in both games as the sides met in the 2006/07 group stage; Arsenal won 2-0 at home and drew 0-0 away, a match in which Clichy also appeared.

• Nasri was in the Olympique de Marseille team defeated 2-1 at Porto in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Sergio Agüero took on Porto four times in the UEFA Champions League with Club Atlético de Madrid. Porto won their 2008/09 round of 16 tie on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw; in the 2009/10 group stage, Agüero's Atlético lost 2-0 at home and 3-0 away.

• Porto coach Vítor Pereira learned his craft with the club's Under-15 team, subsequently working as head coach at AD Sanjoanense, SC Espinho and CD Santa Clara before becoming André Villas-Boas's assistant – and then successor – at the Estádio do Dragão.

• As a forward City manager Mancini won 36 caps for Italy, and Serie A titles – and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup – with both Lazio and Sampdoria. As a coach, he won three Italian titles with Inter before joining City in 2009; his first trophy in Manchester came in last season's FA Cup.

Round of 16
• The winners of this tie will take on Legia Warszawa or Porto's Liga rivals Sporting Clube de Portugal in the round of 16 on 8 and 15 March, playing the second leg at home.

• Neither side have met either of their potential opponents in UEFA competition.

Competition statistics
• An updated version of the UEFA Europa League Statistics Handbook is available here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1750416.html

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