After four successive defeats across all competitions, the last thing Nice needed was to concede an early goal - but they did just that.
Porto flew up the pitch from kickoff, and Pepe cut the ball back for Veiga, who drove a low effort beyond Yehvann Diouf with just 19 seconds on the clock.
The midfielder’s shot took a nick off Dante - not how the 42-year-old centre back would have imagined his night starting following his return to the starting lineup as captain. To their credit, Nice did not crumble, and Terem Moffi raced clear in the 19th minute, but the striker rushed his shot and fired over the crossbar.
Veiga showed Moffi how to finish when he doubled the lead 12 minutes before half-time. Victor Froholdt played a perfectly-weighted pass across the edge of the penalty area, and the Spaniard took it in his stride, composed himself and fired into the top corner.
Having started the night with just one goal this season, Veiga had tripled his tally in just over half an hour.
Dante’s night went from bad to worse after half-time when he was adjudged to have fouled Samu in the penalty area, following a VAR check.
Samu sent Diouf the wrong way from the spot to score his 10th goal of the season, sealing victory just 16 minutes into the second half.
Nice duo, Kevin Carlos and Jonathan Clauss, did not show the same composure when they both blazed over in quick succession shortly after.
The victory stretches Porto’s unbeaten home record this season to eight games (W7) and moves them to 10 points in the UEL, putting them in a strong position to qualify for the knockout stages.
Nice, however, remain pointless and have now gone 15 main draw European games without a win (D4) - setting a new record for the worst run by a French side.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Gabri Veiga (Porto)