Soccer
Enzo Maresca insisted that only a “perfect” performance from Manchester City would be enough to get their Champions League campaign off to a winning start against Porto.
City make the trip to the Estadio Do Dragao on Tuesday fresh from maintaining their perfect start in the Premier League thanks to a narrow 1-0 win over Coventry City.
The Citizens have now won each of their first three Premier League games in a season for the eighth time, with only Chelsea doing so more often (nine).
But their attention now turns to Europe, where they will be hoping to improve on last season’s exit in the last 16 to Real Madrid, when they were beaten 5-1 on aggregate.
City have won their opening game of a Champions League campaign in six of the last seven seasons (D1), last losing their opener in 2018-19 against Lyon (1-2).
Porto and City have faced each other on four occasions in Europe, with the Portuguese winless across each of them (D1 L3). Their only previous Champions League meeting at the Estadio Do Dragao did end 0-0, however, coming in the 2020-21 edition.
But Francesco Farioli’s side have begun their domestic campaign strongly, winning all five of their opening Primeira Liga fixtures, and Maresca was wary of the threat they pose.
“We are here to do our best. This is a hard place to come to. This season they have started very well,” Maresca told reporters.
“In the last 14 or 15 games in Europe, I think they have lost one. That shows it’s a difficult place to go to, but we are going to try our best to win the game.
“They are a very, very good team. The team is very clear about the way they play. They have a clear style so congratulations to them. I know that Porto are good at set pieces.
“It has become part of the game. Defend in the right way and score set pieces. You need to be perfect in your game.”
On the mic pic.twitter.com/9Ak9rYTMd1
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 7, 2026
Maresca will be just the fourth different manager to take charge of City in the Champions League, following Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola.
None of the previous three lost their first game (W2 D1), with the last two both winning by at least three goals (3-0 for Pellegrini, 4-0 for Guardiola).
It’s been a summer of change at the Etihad Stadium for City, with a few key members of their Champions League-winning squad from 2022-23 now no longer at the club.
John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Rodri, Nathan Ake and Bernardo Silva have all departed, though City have been able to bring in plenty of new faces to replace them.
The likes of Enzo Fernandez, Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi, Iliman Ndiaye have all arrived for big-money fees.
“I said many times when you are at Manchester City, the expectations are always higher,” Maresca said when questioned about whether there was more pressure to win the Champions League because of the money spent this summer.
“I like to focus on day by day. It’s complicated to think where we might be in February, March or April. The most important thing is to see we are improving game after game.”
Both Nico O’Reilly and Jeremy Doku did not make the trip to Portugal, with the latter sustaining a calf injury during their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal last month.
O’Reilly, meanwhile, was forced to pull out of the starting line-up shortly before the Citizens’ victory against Coventry after reporting a back problem.
Asked about their potential availability for Sunday’s Manchester derby, Maresca replied: “Nico, probably yes, Jeremy we’re not sure yet, we need to wait.
“Jeremy got injured in the Community Shield. That’s three weeks ago. But he’s back. I don’t know if he will be available for the weekend, but slowly, slowly he’s coming back.”
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