Portuguese clubs are being squeezed out of continental football - so just how far can Porto go in this season's UEFA Champions League?
The 2020-21 Champions League is set to kick off, with FC Porto set to take on Manchester City in their opening game of the competition.
It is sure to be a massive challenge for the Portuguese champions, taking on an outfit who are widely perceived to be one of the very favourites to win the entire competition.
And Porto are a side that are in a minor transition after the departure of both Alex Telles and Danilo Pereira very late in the last window. To lose two such key defensive figures heading into a match against a team that boast so much attacking talent makes an already near-formidable task even more challenging.
The good news for Porto is that this is a match they were never expected to get anything out of - defeat is more than acceptable, particularly if they manage to keep the scoreline down, so to get this game out of the way could be a good thing. To get anything at all from this game would be a minor miracle considering the difference in financial backing between the two clubs, and in many ways would be a rather embarassing result for Manchester City considering just how much money they have spent to get to where they are.
FC Porto are perhaps close to unaninmously seen as a bigger club than their opponents, in terms of historical success and overall reputability - but financially there is no denying that the gulf is truly astronomical, which has ensured that Manchester City are a modern day powerhouse and FC Porto are now relative minnows on the continental stage.
It is a pity that former legendary clubs like FC Porto are being squeezed out of European football due to the mega transfer fees now being handed out, but it is the situation that football finds itself in today.
Nevertheless, Porto, who were awarded a pot 1 berth for the competition thanks to their domestic success, know that they can still have some success in this competition - and the aim will surely be to come 2nd in their group and advance to the round of 16.
It won’t be easy, of course. Handed a tough group that also contains Pedro Martins’ Olympiakos and Andre Villas-Boas’ Marseille, this is sure to be an incredibly competitive race for 2nd in the standings, and Porto could easily claim that runners-up spot - but could also quite possibly find themselves finishing 4th and dropping out of European football altogether too.
Should Porto manage to claim that 2nd-place spot, there is surely little to no chance of them making it any deeper in the competition. It would take something quite special from Sergio Conceicao and his side to make it to the last 8, and with every passing year, the thought of a Portuguese side progressing to the quarter finals of Europe’s most illustrious club competition becomes more and more fanciful.
