Porto vs Bayer Leverkusen 28/02/20

28 February 2020

Porto will try to overturn Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-1 first-leg success when the two sides lock horns in the return leg of their UEFA Europa League (EL) last-32 tie at the Estádio do Dragão this weekend.

The abovementioned defeat is Porto’s only reverse in their last eight competitive matches (W6, D1), with six of those games in that period ended separating the sides by under 1.5 goals. In turn, seven of their last nine home results (win/loss) have yielded a single-goal margin, with the winner on the day finding the opening goal in all but one of those fixtures. Also, Sérgio Conceição’s men won two of three group stage home clashes (D1), with each seeing Porto open the scoring and both teams hit the net. Regular European campaigners, the Dragons have featured in 11 EL knockout stage matches since the triumphant 2010/11 season, winning just two of them (D3, L6).

Meanwhile, the visitors head to Portugal on a run of five consecutive wins in all competitions, scoring over 1.5 goals in each while keeping a clean sheet once. Notably, none of Leverkusen’s 15 away matches this season has ended in a draw (W9, L6), with 66.67% (ten) producing over 2.5 goals. The ‘clean-sheet theme’ could determine the outcome of this showdown, considering that nine of Leverkusen’s previous 13 away fixtures have seen the winner on the day shut out the losing side (69.23%). Crossed over from the UEFA Champions League, ‘Die Werkself’ have lost two of three group stage away games ‘to nil,’ with their only success following the same pattern, too.