FC Porto kick off their Champions League campaign on Wednesday evening by welcoming Besiktas to the Estádio do Dragão.

The match sees two former favourites of the Estádio do Dragão face their former team, with Portugal internationals Ricardo Quaresma and Pepe returning to the stadium where they were venerated by the home fans.

Turkish football expert Efe Can Candan gives us the lowdown on the current Süper Lig champions.

Lisbon giants Benfica and Sporting begin their Champions League campaign on Tuesday night.

Benfica welcome CSKA to the Portuguese capital. Football commentator John Bradley, who specialises in Russian football, gives PortuGOAL the lowdown on the Moscow outfit.

The Lions are in Athens to take on Greek champions Olympiacos. What can Jorge Jesus’s team expect? Greek football expert Themis Kesaris tells us.

The 2017/18 Champions League kicks off in earnest this week, and for the second season running, Portugal’s three strongest teams are in the group stage of the world’s greatest club competition.

Last season Benfica and FC Porto reached the last-16 stage before succumbing to Borussia Dortmund and Juventus respectively, while Sporting finished bottom of their group. How will the trio fare this time round?

PortuGOAL assesses the respective squads, strong points, weak points and European prospects of Portugal’s finest in this season’s Champions League, and runs through the rest of the Portuguese players spread around the old continent who will take part in the competition, all 16 of them.

A combination of fatigued internationals and a pending European fixture stood as the perfect storm for some of the lesser-equipped sides of the Primeira Liga to make life difficult for the renowned Big Three, amidst talk that the top-flight of Portuguese football had grown to be uncompetitive.

The first to have their mettle tested was Sporting, spurning a two-goal lead away to Feirense before a last-minute Bas Dost penalty salvaged their 100% record in the league in a 3-2 win.

Benfica weren’t to have an easier ride, coming back from a goal down to defeat Portimonense 2-1 and return to winning ways, whereas FC Porto extended their good form with a humbling 3-0 victory against Chaves. PortuGOAL follows the main action, and zooms in on Marítimo’s Rodrigo Pinho as our Figure of the Week for Matchday 5.