AC Milan vs Porto

AC Milan will have a last-gasp opportunity to keep their hopes of making it out into the UEFA Champions League knock-out stage when they take on Porto at the Stadio San Siro.

Despite their mercurial Serie A start, Milan have stumbled in their first Champions League campaign since 2013/14, losing all three Group B matches. Rooted to the foot of the standings and still leaking the wounds following a 1-0 defeat to Porto in the reverse fixture, the ‘Rossoneri’ could lose a mathematical chance of progressing unless they win here. But it’s worth noting that since losing just one of their first six European encounters against Porto (W3, D2), the Italians have suffered two defeats in their last four meetings with this opposition (W1, D1). Even though Milan’s overall European home record versus Portuguese opponents waxes lyrical about their hopes of winning (W6, L2), the hosts need to defy their four-game winless streak in the Champions League home games (D2, L2) to claim their revenge.

In the meantime, Porto’s bag of mixed results from their opening three Champions League matches (W1, D1, L1) puts them level on points with second-placed Atletico Madrid heading into Matchday 4. To keep things that way, the visitors will rely on their solid away form in the Champions League of late, having lost just one of their last five road trips in the competition (W3, D1). The ‘Dragons’ have based their recent away success in Europe on a rock-solid backline that has kept a clean sheet in four of their last five Champions League travels. With so much at stake, Porto will have to bring their A-game to the plate if they are to snap a three-game losing away run against Italian sides in European football.