Champions League Preview: Austria Wien vs FC Porto

Austria Wien will look to pull off a major upset when they host former Champions League winners FC Porto in their first group stage match on Wednesday.

After the first night of action was filled with goals galore, tonight's action also promises plenty more goals and Porto, the Portuguese champions, will want to get in on the act.

Austria Wien, though, is determined not to be overawed by the occasion with manager Nenad Bjelica asking his players to relish playing in Europe's elite club competition.

"Porto have some strong players who could cause us a real problem, but we have prepared our defence for this," he said. "Good defending can be the key to success.

"Of course, it is a special feeling as we are happy to be part of the Champions League this season. We feel responsibility towards the club and it is a reward for all the hard work we have done. However, we are not nervous, we want to enjoy the competition.

"Porto are a strong team, we are relying on our strengths to surprise them, but we know it is going to be very hard."

The Portuguese side are one of the favourites to progress into the knockout stages along with Spanish side Atletico Madrid, with Zenit St. Petersburg and Austria Wien expected to scrap for the Europa League place.

However, Paul Fonseca, the Porto manager, knows all about the pitfalls of playing an away game in the Champions League and is not taking three points for granted.

"It is the start of the competition and we want to kick off in style, although a tough game awaits us," Fonseca said. "Playing away from home in the Champions League is always difficult. Austria qualified as league champions and they possess the quality to threaten us, but we have the ambition to do well in this group.

"Austria have a compact team, they are well organised and dangerous on the counterattack. We have seen lot of their games, they are strong in defence. When they switch to attack it is simple and fast."

Team News: Austria Wien are without injured trio Dare Vrsic, Alexander Grunwald and Alexander Gorgon

Porto's Maicon limped off in the match against Gil Vicente at the weekend and has been ruled out of the game, while Diego Reyes and Marat Izmailov have been included in the squad and could be set for their first appearances this season. Steven Defour misses the game through suspension.

Where to watch

The game is scheduled for a kickoff on Thursday morning (12.15 am IST) while there is no scheduled telecast.

Expected lineups: Austria Wien: Lindner, Koch, Rogulj, Ortlechner, Suttner, Holland, Royer, Stankovic, Mader, Jun, Hosiner.

Porto: Helton, Danilo, Otamendi, Mangala, Alex Sandro, Fernando, Quintero, Ricardo, Varela, Lica, Jackson Martinez.

Prediction: 2-0 to Porto