FK Krasnodar vs FC Porto Predictions

Porto were able to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season, but will they fall before the group stage this time around? There’s no reward for the Portuguese side’s run to the last eight, with the Dragons left facing the possibility of losing their Champions League income. It’s become a serious concern for the second-placed side in Liga Nos, with Benfica struggling through the summer stages last term. Now Porto are bound for Russia for a tough start to their season, but can they come away with a result?

After steady progress in recent seasons, Krasnodar are set to start their first-ever Champions League campaign. The Russian side are already underway with their new league campaign, as they have opened up with seven points from four matches. They’ve already picked up a point at Zenit, but they’ll be a little concerned with how open they’ve been in the early stages of their campaign. Krasnodar have kept just one clean sheet in the Premier League so far, while they’re about to face another tier of opposition in midweek.

Porto have shown themselves to be a real threat in Europe, with the 2004 winners making the last 16 of the Champions League in each of their last three seasons. With 109 wins across 33 seasons in Europe’s top competition, the visitors among the Champions League’s elite. However, that won’t help them going into this season. They have a questionable away record in Europe, winning just two of their last eight trips. In that time they’ve shipped 12 goals.

Overall, Porto saw both teams score in seven of their last eight Champions League games. That included a win in Russia at Lokomotiv Moscow. The Portuguese side have got plenty of options going forward, they are just a little light at the back. That’s especially true of Porto in 2019/20, as they let Eder Militao and Felipe depart for a combined fee of over £60million this summer, with the defenders both heading for Madrid. Defender Maxi Pereira also departed, leaving a new-look backline for the Dragons.

The visitors are built to attack, so we expect them to get forward and cause problems here. However, Krasnodar pack a punch too. They scored 1.93 goals per game at home in the league last term, finding the net in 90% of their matches overall. Meanwhile, they’ve hit 82 goals across their 46 European ties so far, having found the net in 19 of 23 home matches in Europe. We see them scoring here, so both teams to score is our pick for Wednesday’s clash.