Porto vs Lille preview

August 25, 2014
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Porto vs LilleFC Porto are on the verge of securing their place in Champions League group stages after recording a 1-0 win at Grand Stade Lille Metropole, but the Dragons are well aware that they cannot start celebrating just yet.

Les Dogues were far from impressive in the first leg, but they do have enough quality and experience to try and overturn a one-goal deficit.

Third-place finish in Portuguese Primeira Liga seems to have been a blessing in disguise as it forced club management to invest heavily in the playing squad.

And while Fernando, Mangala and Defour left, the Dragons signed no less than 13 new players, most of whom will be vying for starting positions.

New boss Julen Lopetegui will obviously need a while to rebuild the squad, but his charges appear to be in decent form already.

Porto have won the first two league fixtures in the new campaign without conceding a goal, while 1-0 triumph over Lille puts them in a good position to progress into the group stages.

While the media are focused on Ricardo Quaresma’s omission from the squad, the Dragons are preparing for the return leg, where they are 1.67 (2/3) for the win.

The hosts will be without Cristian Tello as he picked up a muscle injury, while new signing Vincent Aboubakar is ineligible. The good new is Alex Sandro should start.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Fabiano – Danilo, Maicon, Martins Indi, Alex Sandro – Neves, Casemiro – Torres, Brahimi, Herrera – Martinez.

Despite having entered the new campaign with a virtually unchanged squad, Lille have struggled in the opening exchanges, with their performances even more disappointing than the results.

Les Dogues have somehow managed to pick up 7 points from first 3 league fixtures, but their displays were far from impressive, especially in the final third.

The fact Lille lost the only high-profile game so far, suffering 1-0 defeat to Porto, is enough to suggest that this could be a very disappointing season for the club.

While boss Rene Girard awaits the departure of star striker Salomon Kalou, the team continue to struggle up front, and they were very fortunate to defeat Lorient at the weekend.

And with Porto yet to concede a goal this season, there may be some value in backing Lille not to score at odds of 2.00 (1/1).

Key defender Marko Basa misses out through a thigh problem, while it remains to be seen whether Salomon Kalou will be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-1-2-1-2): Enyeama – Corchia, Kjaer, Rozenhal, Beria – Mavuba – Delaplace, Gueye – Marcos Lopes – Roux, Mendes.

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