WILL Leicester make it two wins out of two in the Champions League? Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) tackles their match against Porto.
Leicester v Porto | Tuesday 19:45 | BT Sport 2
A red letter night for Leicester City as they welcome the 2004 Champions League winners Porto to the King Power in their second Champions League match.
Any suggestions that the English side may be overawed by this competition we’re quickly put to bed in the opening matchday after a thumping 3-0 win over Club Brugge in Belgium.
For me, that result reeked of last season. Plenty of people were queuing up to doubt Leicester as they faced a challenge they had to yet to face but they passed it with flying colours.
Indeed, the Champions League may very well be a replication of the conditions the Foxes faced last year in the Premier League. If Claudio Raineri’s side embrace it in the same lets-have-a-crack way then anything is possible.
It’s also worth factoring in the raucous atmosphere of the King Power. Leicester lost just one league game there last season and lie third in the home table this season after collecting seven points out of nine.
Their opponents on Tuesday are the sexy side in this not-so-sexy Champions League group. FC Porto won the competition in 2004 and were in touching distance of the semi-finals last year.
In 2015 they hammered FC Basle in the Last 16 and then went 3-1 up against Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich side before succumbing 6-1 in the return leg.
There’s no doubt that Porto have had a shit load more experience than Leicester in these kind of games but their opening group match against FC Copenhagen hardly impressed. Despite their Danish opponents going down to 10 men they failed to see them off in the Dragao.
While there’s no doubt it’s been an erratic start to the season for Leicester in the Premier League, their home form has been solid and that should hold them in good stead here.
The Foxes have scored in eight of their nine matches this season (including the Community Shield) and have gone Over 1.5 in four of those games. They’ll be pumped for this match along with the crowd and I’m going to take a chance on them notching more than once on Tuesday. Porto have leaked more than one in three of their last four Champions League games.
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Leicester v Porto – Over 1.5 Leicester Goals (29/20 Betfair)
