Five key stats ahead of FC Porto vs Barcelona | UEFA Champions League

Barcelona will face one of their biggest challenges of the 2023/24 season thus far when they lock horns with FC Porto in their second Group H encounter of the UEFA Champions League.

The Blaugrana have not had the best of runs in Europe in recent seasons, having crashed out of the group stages of the competition in the last two campaigns.

As such, the main aim for Barça as far as the Champions League is concerned is to at least make it through to the knockout stages.

And FC Porto will most likely be the toughest test for Xavi’s men in Group H which also consists of Royal Antwerp and Shakhtar Donetsk.

While it will be a steep challenge for Barcelona, they do have history on their side heading into the contest against the Portuguese giants.

Indeed, Barça have won each of their last four previous matches against Porto, keeping clean sheets in three of those games. The last meeting between the two teams came in the UEFA Super Cup in 2011.

What is a bit of a concern is the Blaugrana’s recent record in the Champions League away from home.

After all, Barcelona have lost four of their last six Champions League group stage away matches (W2), as many as they had in their previous 43 such games.

In fact, Barça’s last visit to Portugal in the Champions League ended in a 3-0 defeat against SL Benfica in the final days of Ronald Koeman’s managerial stint in September 2021.

But the La Liga champions can draw confidence from their stunning performance in their first UCL game of the season against Royal Antwerp, which they won 5-0.

Joao Felix was the star of the show for the Catalans on that night against the Belgian champions, scoring two goals, and all eyes will again be on him tonight as he returns to his homeland.

If Joao Felix finds the back of the net against Porto tonight, he could become only the fourth footballer to score in his first two games for Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League, following in the footsteps of Luis Enrique, Deco, and David Villa.

Meanwhile, it is set to be a special occasion for Xavi Hernandez as he will be taking charge of his 100th match as Barcelona manager. In 99 games thus far, he has 63 wins and 19 defeats (D17).

His record in the Champions League as Barça manager does not make the best of readings though with only three wins and four losses from nine matches (D2).

It will also be a landmark occasion for Barcelona captain and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

If the German features against Porto, he will join club legend Antoni Ramallets as the goalkeeper with the third-highest official appearances for Barcelona (387), trailing only Víctor Valdés (535) and Andoni Zubizarreta (410).