City manager Roberto Mancini insists that he will select a strong side to play the Portuguese champions, whose high standards of last season when they were all but unbeatable domestically and in Europe have slipped and they trail Benfica by five points in this term's title race.
Indeed while the Premier League title remains the Italian's top target he is also looking to add some European silverware to the trophy cabinet and with City having lost out on retaining the FA Cup the Europa League has taken on added importance."I will play a strong team against Porto.
We want to win the Europa League because it is an important trophy," Mancini told the Sunday Mirror.
"We have no game next week (having been knocked out of the FA Cup) so we can concentrate fully on a good performance.
It will be difficult to go through because Porto are a top team, but we want to do the best we can in this competition.
"We were disappointed not to do well in the Champions League, but it was a difficult group and we were unlucky to go out with 10 points.
"Now our concentration is on the Europa. It is a long time since Manchester City won a trophy in Europe (their one and only win the now defunct Cup Winners Cup in 1970).
"Last season we won the FA Cup after a long time and winning a European trophy would be a big step for the club," added Mancini, who as a player scored the only goal in his side Sampdoria's Cup Winners Cup quarter-final at Porto in the 1994/95 season.
Porto, though, will fancy their chances of coming out of it best as they are unbeaten in seven home European matches while City have just one win in their last seven away trips in Europe.
FC Porto league form: WDWWLW
Manchester City league form: WWWLWW
FC Porto V Manchester City - view commentary, squad, and statictics of the game live.
Source: DSG
