Manchester United face FC Porto in their second league stage game of the Europa League after a disappointing 1-1 draw with FC Twente on opening night.
The Red Devils have played the Portuguese side eight times in their history, winning three, drawing three and losing two more.
The home side have started their league campaign off in impressive style winning six out of their opening seven league games.
Nonetheless, they lost 3-2 to 10-man FK Bodø/Glimt in their first European tie of the season, so they will be desperate to pick up a positive result tonight.
Here are three storylines to savour.
United’s impressive record against Portugal’s finest
Not only has Portugal been a productive shopping market for United with the signings of Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani over the years but the Red Devils have also enjoyed a lot of success against Primeira Liga teams.
Manchester United are unbeaten in their last 12 major European matches against Portuguese clubs, winning nine and drawing three, since losing 2-1 to Benfica in December 2005.
They have not played Porto since the Champions League quarter finals of 2009 when Sir Alex Ferguson’s men came out on top 3-2 on aggregate after winning 1-0 in tonight’s venue, the Estádio do Dragão.
More recently they have won four games on the trot in the Champions League, with two victories over Sporting Braga in 2012 and two more wins versus SL Benfica in 2017 when Jose Mourinho was coach.
In fact, dating back to 1964, United have only lost three out of their 27 ties against Portuguese sides, and will be hoping their good fortune continues tonight in what already feels like a must-win match.
Iconic moments in this fixture
For two teams who don’t play each other very often, a couple of modern football’s most iconic moments have taken place.
The first comes during the 2003/2004 season when after United dominated the match and were seemingly heading through to the Champions League quarter finals, Porto’s Costinha smashed home a 90th minute winner after a Tim Howard fumble that sent United crashing out of the cup in front of a stunned Old Trafford.
Porto would go on to brilliantly win the Champions League that year but the fixture is remembered for the reaction of a young Portuguese coach.
A much lesser-known Mourinho celebrated by running half the length of the pitch to celebrate with his players in what would become one of the most famous celebrations by a manager and announced himself on the global stage.
The next was a significantly sweeter one for United fans, when in 2009 in a tight encounter between the two sides, Cristiano Ronaldo fired in a spectacular 40 yard drive to give the Red Devils the lead, which they would not relinquish as they progressed to the semi-finals, after winning in Porto 1-0.
The goal is certainly one of Ronaldo’s finest and arguably one of the best scored in the Champions League era.
Can United keep up away day goal feast?
Europe has hardly been a happy hunting ground as of late for Ten Hag’s side as they were dumped out of the Champions League at the group stages last year.
Interestingly enough, despite struggling to score in the league, the Red Devils were lethal in front of goal in Europe, scoring nine goals in their three away games.
Unfortunately for everyone connected to the club, this incredibly didn’t result in any victories as they lost 4-3 to both Bayern Munich and FC Copenhagen before drawing 3-3 with Galatasaray.
While fans of the club would love to see three more strikes tonight, most would snap your hand off for a boring 1-0 victory to stem the tide of negative feeling at the club as of late.
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