Football
PA Sport 8y

Nuno Espirito Santo eager to improve Porto's woeful record in Europe

Porto manager Nuno Espirito Santo is out to improve the club's wretched record in England.

The Portuguese side have lost 14 out of 16 European games in England and have never won in this country ahead of their Champions League visit to Leicester on Tuesday.

They have also conceded 16 goals in their last five matches on these shores, failing to score.

Porto's best result came in 2004 when Costinha scored a 90th-minute equaliser to earn a last-gasp 1-1 draw at Manchester United, best remembered for Jose Mourinho's touchline celebrations, to knock the Red Devils out of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate.

Porto went onto win the competition that season and Nuno knows they must improve their results in England this year.

He said: "History tells us FC Porto has never managed to win in England but records are there to be broken. We have a chance in front of us. Leicester are champions of the Premier League and it is one of the best leagues in the world. What Leicester did last season was remarkable and we must respect it.

"It's a new day and a new game and we have to go into it believing we can go beyond our limits.

"We know what Leicester can be and they are a very strong opposition. We know their strength and know what they can do but we have our knowledge about their team.

"We know who we are going to play tomorrow, we know the difficulties we are going to face and must never forget we are going to play against the Premier League champions."

Porto drew 1-1 at home with FC Copenhagen in their opening game and are two points behind Leicester in Group G following the Foxes' 3-0 win at Club Brugge on their Champions League debut.

They have lost just once this season, a 2-1 defeat to Sporting Lisbon when new Leicester striker Islam Slimani scored his fifth goal in three games against Porto in his final game for Sporting.

The forward is called the "Dragon Slayer" after his record of goals against Porto, the Dragons, and Nuno knows what threat the £29 million man carries.

"We know the player, we faced him in our competition," said the former Valencia head coach. "He is not the type of player you can ignore. He is a goal scorer but Leicester is not just about Slimani; they have [Jamie] Vardy and [Riyad] Mahrez as well.

"One of the most important things, and we cannot ever lose it, is our main idea. We are a team who likes to control the ball and we must do it tomorrow."

Uruguay full-back Maxi Pereira has travelled with Porto after shrugging off a thigh injury which has kept him out since their 3-0 Champions League qualifying win at Roma in August.

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