FC Porto vs. Juventus, UEFA Champions League draw: Italy’s champions will expect to progress

It’s a clash between two of the great old heavyweights of European soccer, with the most successful team in Italian history taking on the second-most decorated club in Portugal.

Runners-up in the Primeira Liga last season, Porto might perhaps have considered themselves a little lucky to be drawn into the same group as Leicester, in theory one of the weaker of the champions in the competition. But after beginning the group stage with a home draw against Copenhagen and a loss to Claudio Ranieri’s merry men, they had to scrap to get out of the group, and needed a 93rd minute penalty to dispatch Club Brugge and kickstart their campaign.

At home, they’re currently third in the league thanks to an early season loss away to Sporting and a recent run of draws. But the gap to the top is only four points and Porto have the meanest defensive record in the division: Iker Casillas has only let five in all season. They could just do with scoring a few more goals.

How they got here: Slow at the start, but ultimately stylish at the end. Home and away draws against Copenhagen meant that they and the Danes went into the last round of fixtures both able to qualify, but Porto put five past Leicester, which took care of that.

Key player: Still young at 21, André Silva is the latest in a long line of potential replacements for Pauleta in the Portuguese national team, and has been Porto’s main goal threat this season. That’s slightly understating it, in truth: he’s in double figures already; nobody else has gone past four.

It’s difficult to overstate quite how impressive Juventus’ emergence as European contenders has been over the last few seasons. Intelligent management both on the bench and in the boardroom has seen the Italian giants both dominate domestically and challenge continentally, after a few miserable seasons languishing in Serie A’s mid-table. Having been beaten in the final of this tournament back in 2015, and eliminated only after extra time by Bayern Munich last season, there’s no doubting they’re in the Champions League to win it.

They may have lost Paul Pogba to Manchester United in the summer transfer window for a world-record fee, but reinvested much of it in bringing Gonzalo Higuaín in from domestic rivals Napoli. The addition of Roma’s Miralem Pjanić similarly killed two birds with one stone, contributing to a midfield that is almost as potent as it was before Pogba’s departure. With perhaps the strongest defensive foundation in all of domestic football, they’re going to be a very stubborn opponent for all.

How they got here: It wasn’t the most routine of group wins for Juventus, whose top spot was coveted by Sevilla until the penultimate matchday. However, Max Allegri’s side eventually emerged unscathed, winning four of their games and drawing the other two. They’ll be confident heading into the next round.

Key player: Leonardo Bonucci. This Juve side’s success is built on their strong foundations, and Bonucci is the rock at the heart of their back line. Not just an excellent defender, the Italian international is a fine playmaker from deep, and can trigger counter attacks if given the space to pick a long pass. He’s undoubtedly a world-class talent.

With apologies to any Porto fans reading, we don’t really see the Dragons having enough in attack to truly inconvenience Juventus’ impressive defence. Max Allegri and co. should be going through.