Leicester Facing Porto Will Tell Them What the Champions League Is Really About
Leicester City’s introduction to the Champions League was about as glorious as football gets. From the anthem to Marc Albrighton’s wildly celebrated fifth-minute opener (notwithstanding the potential fly in the ointment of Jose Izquierdo’s glaring miss between the two), Claudio Ranieri’s side could not have wished for such a visceral and joyous introduction to life at football’s top table.
This week will be different, and not just because a sophomore game makes the competition more of a reality to be prepared for and to be dealt with, nor because they will finally reach the promised land of Champions League arriving at their home, the impressive King Power Stadium.
It’s because comparing Club Brugge and Porto is like doing the same with Neptune and Mars. They inhabit the same galaxy but are wholly different entities. With all due respect to the Belgian champions, this is where the real Champions League starts for Leicester.
Under the excellent Michel Preud’homme, Brugge have just won their first title in 11 years and have largely begun this season as if they’re still sleeping off the afterparty. Porto are virtual ever-presents here, having qualified for the Champions League group stage 21 times—a record that they share with Barcelona and Real Madrid.
In that sense, facing history and precedent, Leicester couldn’t have a much more difficult task than the one awaiting them with facing a Barcelona or Bayern-sized opponent. With that said, travelling to the north of Portugal for the away fixture is best left for later in the group, as they get used to the Champions League’s demands.
Porto’s history, European and otherwise, is evident from the moment you set foot in the museum at their stunning home, Estadio do Dragao, which they moved into in early 2004, halfway through the season in which they won the competition under Jose Mourinho, of course. At the museum’s entrance, you walk your path through life-sized statues of the club’s managerial stars, including Sir Bobby Robson and Mourinho himself.
In Leicester’s own backyard, it’s different. It’s easier in that context, you would assume, to play the game, rather than playing the occasion. As much as the Champions League may be an astonishing novelty, it is something that has a good chance of being turned into a success by Ranieri and his men. As has been widely discussed, the draw has been clement, and playing Porto is about as tough as it is likely to get for them.
The other good aspect for the Foxes about facing Porto now is that they are a work-in-progress, regrouping under new coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who is simply known as Nuno.
There have been encouraging signs under the new boss, but Friday night’s 3-1 over city neighbours Boavista was par for the course at present—fun but fallible, and far harder work than it should have been. There is considerable anxiety around the club as they await a return to winning ways.
Going into 2013-14, Porto had won the Portuguese Liga title in nine of the past 11 seasons. Their current title drought is the longest since Mourinho took the helm, inheriting a shambles from Octavio Machado in January 2002. The ongoing run of three-plus years without a major trophy (Porto lost last season’s Taca de Portugal final on penalties to Braga) is their worst in nearly 40 years and the low point of legendary president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa’s reign, which began in 1982.
Mourinho, speaking to Portuguese daily O Jogo in a Monday interview, empathised with the coach. “Nuno is going through a similar situation to the one I went through,” said the Manchester United coach, as recounted here by Sapo Desporto (in Portuguese). “Going into and being at a club used to winning, winning, winning, winning and winning and then entering into a period of not winning anything—and things change from a mental point of view.”
If there’s one particular word that leaps from the page there, it’s with good reason. When you exit the players’ tunnel at the Dragao, a wide banner screams it at you in enormous letters. “A Vencer Desde 1893”— Winning since 1893. There is no second. Get it done, or you’re a failure.
The former goalkeeper, who was part of Mourinho’s winning Porto squad as a player and understands that culture, would seem like the perfect man to untangle the current mess. He is under no illusions about what must be done. While Mourinho preached “patience” for his former charge in that O Jogo interview, Nuno has been unequivocal.
“Patience is something that doesn’t exist in football,” he told his pre-match press conference in Leicester, as reported here by Mais Futebol (in Portuguese), “and we, the coaches, are conscious of that.”
Identifying the pressure is the first step to dealing with it. Nuno is arriving at the idea of his best XI much quicker than now-Spain coach Julen Lopetegui (whose tactical blunders helped Chelsea qualify for the last 16 at Porto’s expense last season, and ultimately cost him his job).
He has also given young talent like centre-forward Andre Silva and midfielder Otavio the confidence and freedom to express themselves, with pleasing results. Nuno does not pick on reputation, with the highly rated Yacine Brahimi—who came close to joining Everton for a big fee this summer, as reported by the Mirror—having to wait in line behind Otavio.
Even bearing in mind a lavishly talented squad, Porto face a tough mission in the East Midlands as they seek to reverse the damage of a disappointing draw with FC Copenhagen in their opener.
The economic gap between England and Portugal is significant and goes a long way to bridging that historical gap. The €30 million initial payment that Leicester made to Sporting Clube de Portugal for Islam Slimani is equal, for example, to 30 percent of the money that cup winners Braga will receive for their television rights over the next decade.
Slimani was always a pest for Porto—hitting six goals in six matches—and his scorecard against Iker Casillas specifically is even more impressive. The centre-forward has never failed to score against the legendary Spain goalkeeper, netting five in their three meetings (all in this calendar year). One wonders how easily Casillas slept on Monday night given that Slimani is living in Leicester’s Marriott Hotel, where Porto are staying, while he searches for a permanent residence in the area.
Yet the Algerian will also have told his new colleagues that Porto, containing his international team-mate Brahimi in their ranks, are not to be sniffed at.
It may be Leicester’s big night, but all the pressure is on the visitors, as their status and history dictates. It always is. With the stakes this high, Ranieri will know his players are breathing in authentic Champions League air.
.jpg?w=480 "NFL Draft Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Fans React to Simpson Pick 😱")
.jpg?w=600 "Vet Wideout Landing Spots After Draft 📍")