Porto v Rio Ave match preview

Following last weeks 1-1 draw against Benfica in the Clássico, Os Dragões sit first in the Liga table. With Rio Ave coming into Estádio do Dragão on Sunday, Jesualdo Ferreira faces a number of difficult choices as his side must turnaround quickly against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League two days later.

For Rio Ave promotion to Liga this season has been from from easy and they sit at the bottom of the table level with Vitória de Setúbal and Trofense. However last week they were able to defeat Académica de Coimbra as shown in their first meeting of the year against Porto, which ended in a scoreless draw, are capable of disciplined defending.

For the match Jesualdo Ferreira has omitted defenders Cristian Săpunaru and Milan Stepanov from the following squad list:

Bruno Alves, Aly Cissokho, Ernesto Farías, Fernando, Jorge Fucile, Guarín, Helton, Hulk, Lisandro López, Lucho González, Mariano González, Nuno, Pedro Emanuel, Raul Meireles, Cristian Rodríguez, Rolando, Tarik Sektioui, Tomás Costa