Differing fortunes for Portuguese trio in Europa League
The draw for this year's Champions League group stage was kind to Portugal's two representatives, with both Benfica and FC Porto handed groups that will leave them confident that progress to the knockout stage is possible.
Benfica were pitted against Atletico Madrid (Spain), Galatasary (Turkey) and Astana (Kazakhstan), while FC Porto face English champions Chelsea (and former Estádio do Dragão idols José Mourinho and Radamel Falcao), Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) and Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel).
Six opponents from six different countries make for a fascinating battle for the two Portuguese sides as they attempt to make it to the last 16 of the world's greatest club competition. Meanwhile, on Friday Sporting, Belenenses and Braga learned their group stage opponents in the Europa League.
Benfica schedule:
15/09 Benfica-Astana
30/09 Atletico Madrid-Benfica
21/10 Galatasaray-Benfica
03/11 Benfica-Galatasaray
25/11 Astana-Benfica
08/12 Benfica-Atletico Madrid
Curiosity: The clashes between Benfica and Astana will set a new Champions League record in terms of the distance the away team will have to travel. 6,158 kilometres separate the capital cities of Portugal and Kazakhstan.
FC Porto schedule:
16/09 Dynamo Kiev-FC Porto
29/09 FC Porto-Chelsea
20/10 FC Porto-Maccabi Tel Aviv
04/11 Maccabi Tel Aviv-FC Porto
24/11 FC Porto-Dynamo Kiev
09/12 Chelsea-FC Porto
On Friday the Europa League draw handed the following opponents to Portugal's three representatives in the competition, Sporting, Belenenses and Braga.
Group F: Marseille (France), Braga, Slovan Liberec (Czech Republic), Groningen (Netherlands)
Group H: Sporting, Besiktas (Turkey), Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia), Skenderbeu (Albania)
Group I: FC Basel (Switzerland), Fiorentina (Italy), Lech Poznan (Poland), Belenenses
