FC Porto returns to Caldeirão and has in the Maritime a hard bone to bite

O Barreiros Stadium will receive, on Saturday afternoon, another candidate for the title in the Portuguese championship. After Benfica won about a month ago in Madeira, the Marítimo faces FC Porto at home, in play of the journey 8 of the I Liga.

Although the champion in title leaves as a favorite for the duel in Madeira, the truth is that on the side of the island set is a person who has given many headaches to FC Porto. Named after Mitchell van der Gaag, who has been a hard nut to bite for the dragons either first as a player or already as a coach for the Madeirans.

It all began when the Dutchman, known as the flying Dutchman, was still a player of the island ensemble. The former central faced the porters at home five times for the championship, adding three draws, one victory and one defeat.

Focusing on that very triumph of the Madeirans, Van der Gaag was the greatest figure in this duel. The Maritime, at the time guided by Nelo Vingada, won in Barreiros by 2-1, with the Dutch opening the count. Derlei tied to FC Porto, which was trained by José Mourinho, and Gaúcho secured the Madeiran triumph.

Mitchell van der Gaag again provoked a dissent to the FC Port already as a coach, since the old 25 of the red green emblem features a hundred percent victorious record in the Cauldron before the blue and white. In 2009/10, and the only time he faced the dragons in this condition, the Dutchman, who had begun the season on Team B of the Maritime, guided his formation to the thin triumph, thanks to a goal of Rolando on the goal itself.

Animating registration at the Maritime home

After 17 seasons, the former central again has a meeting with FC Porto, who again meets the Maritime more than three years after the last duel between the two teams for the Portuguese championship.

In the last ten games between the insulars and the blues and whites for the Portuguese championship in Barreiros, FC Porto has four wins and so many draws, to which two losses can be added. The last trip of the porters in the Madeiran Caldeirão was in the 2014/15 edition of the I Liga, when a goal of Bruno Gallo was enough for the Maritime to leave with the three points of the meeting.

FC Porto, in turn, has an extra motivation for this clash in Caldeirão. If you achieve the eighth consecutive victory in this year's edition of the I League, you will beat the record of the previous season, in which it was fought precisely on this journey. On the other hand, the Maritime goes in search of breaking a five-game cycle without winning, after having started the return to the top tier of national football with two consecutive wins.