Porto vs Manchester United

Manchester United’s next stop in the 2024/25 UEFA Europa League season is Estadio do Dragao and a high-stakes clash against Porto.

Porto squandered an early lead and numerical advantage in a goal-glutted 3-2 defeat against Norweigan side Bodo/Glimt in their Europa League opener despite making an incredible 29 shots. That was only their second competitive loss in 2024/25 (W5), with Vitor Bruno’s side bouncing back with an emphatic 4-0 home league victory over Arouca at the weekend. They’ll look to add to their tally against Manchester United, buoyed by a three-game winning home streak in European football, including a narrow 1-0 triumph against United’s fierce rivals Arsenal in last season’s Champions League. Another success would see Porto string together four consecutive European victories at Estadio do Dragao for the first time since March 2019. It’s hard to put it past the Dragons to accomplish that feat as they’re unbeaten on home turf since April (W6, D2).

In the meantime, the pressure on Erik ten Hag is at an all-time high after Tottenham Hotspur thrashed Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford last weekend, extending their winless run in all competitions to three matches (D2, L1). The Red Devils slumped to a disappointing 1-1 home draw against Twente in their opening Europa League outing, confirming their well-documented continental struggles under the Dutch manager. United have only won once in their last nine European fixtures (D3, L5) and are winless on their three most recent travels (D1, L2) despite scoring three times on each occasion. The only bright news for United fans is that the record-time Premier League champions haven’t lost a European clash against Portuguese opposition since December 2005 (W9, D3 since).