Manchester City land in Porto with their Champions League title defence still only a few weeks old and already under scrutiny. New head coach Enzo Maresca knows it. So does Matheus Nunes, who walked into the press room smiling, then spoke like a man who understands the demands of this club.
Injuries, tactical tweaks, expectations, even the music at training – nothing was off the table as City set the tone for their group-stage opener.
O’Reilly hope, Doku concern
The first question went straight to the heart of Maresca’s selection headache.
Nico O’Reilly, who pulled out of the warm-up before City’s win over Coventry, stayed at home as the squad flew to Portugal. Jeremy Doku, injured in the Community Shield and yet to feature this season, also missed the trip.
Maresca’s update offered a split picture.
On O’Reilly, there was optimism. The issue is not considered serious, and the manager is hopeful the academy product could return in time for Sunday’s Manchester derby against United.
Doku’s situation is more troubling. Initially expected to miss only a couple of weeks, the Belgium international now looks set to sit out at least the first five matches of the season. Maresca stressed that Doku is “back” in terms of recovery, but there is still no clear sign he will be ready for the weekend.
For a coach trying to inject fresh energy and variety into his attack, losing one of his most direct wingers for the opening stretch of the campaign is a significant blow.
Maresca’s City: same ambition, new edge
Maresca, back at the Etihad as the man in charge after his spells alongside Pep Guardiola and at Leicester and Chelsea, cut a relaxed but sharp figure.
On Porto, he was respectful and blunt.
“Very, very good team,” he said. A side with a clear style, strong at set pieces, dangerous when allowed to dictate the rhythm. City, he insisted, must be “perfect” on dead balls at both ends.
He refused to lean into the favourites tag. The Dragão, he reminded everyone, is a hard place to come. The game itself, not the pre-match talk, will decide who looks stronger.
Maresca’s Champions League experience is layered. He was on staff during City’s Treble season and has had deep runs with Chelsea. He knows the competition’s cruelty: one bad night and you are gone. The message to his players is simple – be themselves, but be ruthless.
The Italian also underlined his approach to player management, particularly with Erling Haaland. The Norwegian, now City’s second captain, is no longer just a goal machine but, as Maresca put it, “a man now, a dad… a family man.”
That status does not spare him from rotation. Maresca spoke openly about mental and physical fatigue for players who carry the burden for both club and country. When the signs appear, he will rest them – whether that means a game or a week out.
Music, mood and Maresca’s stamp
There is a lighter side to this City reboot.
Maresca has brought music into training and warm-ups, a habit he developed at Leicester and Chelsea. The playlist belongs to the players. The effect, he says, is obvious: when the tracks start, the mood lifts.
It is a small detail, but it speaks to the “new energy” Nunes would later describe. Standards remain brutally high, yet the environment is looser, more expressive, built to keep players happy while they grind through a relentless schedule.
Tactically, Maresca highlighted Rayan Cherki’s role as a tempo-setter who drops deep on one side of the pitch and pushes higher on the other, threading the final pass. He name-checked Phil Foden as another who can operate between the lines. For all the absences, City still bristle with creative options.
Nunes: right-back, rhythm and responsibility
Then came Nunes, taking his seat for part two of the briefing.
His season has already taken an unexpected twist. A midfielder by trade, he has been asked to operate at right-back, another piece in City’s fluid positional puzzle. He did not flinch.
“I can play any position,” he said. He feels happy there, even if he still sees himself primarily as a midfielder who loves to drive forward and attack. When “Mister” decides, he plays. Simple as that.
Nunes also drew the line between Guardiola and Maresca. Three seasons under Pep, only a few months under Enzo, but he already sees more similarities than differences: intensity, passion, clarity. The comparison will grow as the months pass, yet for now he is fully bought into the new project.
His own fitness, once a concern, is no longer an issue. An ankle knock in training before the Arsenal game stalled his start to the campaign, but he now insists he is at “100 per cent”.
Porto test and Champions League reality
For Nunes, Porto is familiar territory and a serious hurdle.
He talked up Pepe – “a great forward” with two good feet – and called the coming battle “a beautiful duel”. He refused to label this the most complicated tie of the season, pointing out that Arsenal and Crystal Palace had already posed major problems, but he did not hide the scale of the task: one of the best teams in Portugal, in a stadium that demands resilience.
From his vantage point, Porto have evolved. When he played there, the football leaned heavily on transitions. Now, he sees a team that enjoys controlling games, still fighters by DNA but more comfortable on the ball.
On the Champions League itself, Nunes did not dress it up. It is the toughest competition, he said, especially in the knockouts. In the Premier League, a bad day can be repaired the following week. In Europe, one poor performance can send you home. City want to win it every year. This season is no different.
New faces, same expectations
Nunes reserved praise for City’s transfer work. The club, he said, had signed players who were the best at their previous teams. His job, and that of the dressing room, is to help them settle quickly into a side where expectation never drops.
He also welcomed the sense of renewal Maresca has brought. “New energy,” as he put it. The standards have not shifted; the atmosphere has.
Inside the club, nobody is pretending the new Champions League format will be straightforward. It demands adaptation, more variety of opponents, more traps. Maresca, though, brushed past the structural debate. The ambition, he insisted, is unchanged.
City arrive in Porto without Doku, with O’Reilly racing the clock for the derby, and with a head coach already tweaking the mood, the music and the margins. The stage is set.
Now the question is whether this refreshed, reshaped City can still sound like Europe’s dominant force when the volume goes up.
