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Leicester Facing Porto Will Tell Them What the Champions League Is Really About
- Updated: September 27, 2016
Leicester City’s introduction to the Champions League was about as glorious as football gets. From the anthem to Marc Albrighton’s wildly celebrated fifth-minute opener (notwithstanding the potential fly in the ointment of Jose Izquierdo’s glaring miss between the two), Claudio Ranieri’s side could not have wished for such a visceral and joyous introduction to life at football’s top table.
This week will be different, and not just because a sophomore game makes the competition more of a reality to be prepared for and to be dealt with, nor because they will finally reach the promised land of Champions League arriving at their home, the impressive King Power Stadium.
It’s because comparing Club Brugge and Porto is like doing the same with Neptune and Mars. They inhabit the same galaxy but are wholly different entities. With all due respect to the Belgian champions, this is where the real Champions League starts for Leicester.
Under the excellent Michel Preud’homme, Brugge have just won their first title in 11 years and have largely begun this season as if they’re still sleeping off the afterparty. Porto are virtual ever-presents here, having qualified for the Champions League group stage 21 times—a record that they share with Barcelona and Real Madrid.
In that sense, facing history and precedent, Leicester couldn’t have a much more difficult task than the one awaiting them with facing a Barcelona or Bayern-sized opponent. With that said, travelling to the north of Portugal for the away fixture is best left for later in the group, as they get used to the Champions League’s demands.
Porto’s history, European and otherwise, is evident from the moment you set foot in the museum at their stunning home, Estadio do Dragao, which they moved into in early 2004, halfway through the season in which they won the competition under Jose Mourinho, of course. At the museum’s entrance, you walk your path through life-sized statues of the club’s managerial stars, including Sir Bobby Robson and Mourinho himself.
In Leicester’s own backyard, it’s different. It’s easier in that context, you would assume, to play the game, rather than playing the occasion. As much as the Champions League may be an astonishing novelty, it is something that has a good chance of being turned into a success by Ranieri and his men. As has been widely discussed, the draw …
