Sports Mole reviews Friday’s Taça de Portugal match between Porto and Montalegre, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
harbor Welcome to the fourth layer Montalegre To Estadio do Dragao in a round of 32 matches in taka de portugal Friday.
The match is considered one of the biggest mismatches of the round, along with Sporting Lisbon taking on fourth-tier rivals Montalegre Dominici.
Preview the match
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Defending champion Porto hopes to easily pass into the round of sixteen, despite a somewhat disappointing start at the local level.
Sergio Conceicao He led the team to cup glory last season, beating Braga 2-0 in the finals last June.
However, morale is not high at the moment, given Porto’s unspectacular start to the season which has seen them drop to third place.
They are just three points behind Benfica and Sporting, but have scored just 15 goals in 11 league games so far, half of Braga’s tally so far.
Conceição’s side have not been convincing on several occasions, with matches that are relatively comfortable on paper proving more difficult, as they have already drawn with Arauca and lost to Estoril at home this season.
Even when Porto won, their fans walked away feeling somewhat changed, as the one-goal wins over Portimonense, Estrella Amadora, Gil Vicente, Farense and Moreirense were not impressive.
Porto faced fourth-tier opponents in the previous round in the formation of Villar de Perdez, and as many of their league matches have gone so far, they managed a poor win, coming out ahead by two goals to nil.
There is no doubt that Porto maintained their best form in Europe to date, with 3-1 wins over Shakhtar Donetsk and 4-1 over Antwerp, and a draw in round six against the Ukrainians would also qualify them for the knockout rounds.
The visitors to Montalegre have several different ideas on their agenda, as they are currently focused on an immediate return to the third tier, and an unlikely win here would see them reach the last 16 for only the second time.
On that occasion, Montalegre faced tough competition at Benfica but impressively managed just one goal in a 1-0 defeat, exiting the season with pride still intact.
This will be their fourth match in the competition, having already beaten Mondinense, Benes (on penalties after playing for 50 minutes with ten men) and Bevedem.
Facing Porto will be a much different challenge, as the defending champion is the first team above the fourth division that Montalegre will face in the competition this season.
New manager Tony It has them playing well in Group A of the Portuguese Championship, although they currently sit in third place and have a good chance of making a comeback after being relegated from La Liga last year.
Porto taca de portugal form:
Porto model (all competitions):
Form of Montalegre taca de Portugal:
Montalegre model (all competitions):
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Team news
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Many changes are expected at Porto, with Conceição likely to have more than one eye on their trip to Barcelona next week.
The manager made seven changes to the squad in the last round, including promoting the reserve team’s striker Danny Namasu.
Namaso could return again given some injury concerns in Porto’s attack Gabriel Veron And Ivan Jaime In the back of both.
Defenders Wendel And Ivan Marcano Also absent is the goalkeeper Samuel Portugalwho is recovering from a hip injury.
Guests can stick to the same team that won in the previous round, but wing Angola He came off the bench to score the winner late on so hopefully it’ll be a start before then Andre Dias.
Braga is on loan Edo He will likely remain on the bench as a starting striker Alex He scored two more goals in the victory over Limianos in the last match, and also led the attack in the victory over Bevidim in the last round.
Porto possible lineup:
Claudio Ramos; Joao Mario, José Pedro, Fabio Cardoso, Andre Franco; Pepe, Niko, Grujic, Galino; Namaso, Fran Navarro
Montalegre starting lineup:
Bruno Pio; Edu Machado, David Santos, Douglas, Flavio Goncalves; Ruben Neves, David Moura, Mane; Andre Dias, Alex, Boakye
We say: Porto 3-0 Montalegre
Even with several crew changes, there is little doubt that Porto will advance easily, but the narrow result could see Conceição come under further criticism.
Montalegre are unbeaten in their last six matches and have won their last two, but they have little chance of pulling off one of the upsets in Portuguese football history here.
To analyze data on most likely scores, scores and more for this match, please click here.
Most important tip
Our expert partners in Sporita.com They expect less than 3.5 goals in this match. click here To find out what else to expect for this game and to get more tried and tested football tips.Under 3.5: Data
