Arsenal has been drawn to face FC Porto in the Champions League Round of 16.
According to their sporting director, Edu Gaspar, they must be adequately prepared before facing the Portugese giants. Edu made the statement following the Champions League Round of 16 draw at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
“We are going to play against a club that is very used to playing in the competition because they play in it every single year and they have a lot of players as well with big experience,” said Edu via Arsenal.com.
“We have to understand how we are going to play and respect them as much as we can. We will play our game and see if we can go through this stage. We can see how they are playing, how organised they are, and the players that they have.
“Porto is a club that you have to be really prepared to play against or we’ll have problems, so what we have to concentrate on is maintaining our levels and the way we are playing.”
Arsenal dominated the Champions League group stages, unfazed by their inexperience. In six games, they won four, drew one, and lost one. They had only secured a place in the Round of 16 by Match Day 5, having amassed 12 points, which meant that regardless of their performance on Match Day 6 (they drew with PSV), they would win Group B.
So, is it possible for Arsenal to win the Champions League? Of course they can, and Mikel Arteta intimated following the 1-1 draw with PSV on Match Day 6 that he has his sights set on the Champions League crown.
“What I’ve seen is that we can compete at this level, and we came top of the group, which is very important. Especially the way we did it with a game in hand. We have to win game by game, and we arrive again in February,” Arteta said, if he has seen enough for Arsenal to dream of winning this Champions League.
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Not much use in discussing the match now to be honest, 1st leg is more than 2 months away and 2nd leg is almost 3 months away.
A lot can happen between now and those dates.
Yes. But the point of the article remains the same even if its 2/3 months away. We need to respect the team’s ability and quality if we want to beat them
We got kicked out of European competition by Sporting CP last season, so it’d be disappointing if Porto do it to us this season
That will not happen Gai, this is a better equipped and more experienced Arsenal team now. Jesus, Havertz and even Rice all have ucl/Europa experience. Sporting CP edged the game via a Ramsdale error and penalties; that’s not straight forward. Arsenal are more aware of what a Portuguese team can do. Over two legs we should nicj it. We have a good UCL win history over Porto.
Exactly. Even though to Edu’s credit he may be simply trying to head off any motivation which Porto could otherwise generate from being in the underdog role.
Replying to PJ-SA
Overall I think this is a very good draw, if we can’t demolish this little Porto outfit we shouldn’t be harboring thoughts of lifting that big ears mug
Very ARROGANT, distasteful comment. Incorrect too. How often do we demolish teams. By using the word “Demolish” you are being very disrespectful. Also “Little” doesn’t mean anything. Its the quality of the team that matters and Porto is a decent side
Stephanie. This is simply yet ANOTHER example of a person whose first language is NOT English, misusing basic English words and thus attributing incorrect meanings to them.
Of COURSE your post is correct, but as I know from my own attempts to point out to Gunsmoke that he uses English wrongly , much of the time, , you are wasting your time, as he does NOT WANT to know the correct meanings. Sigh!
Jon, Gunsmoke using that word has nothing to do with English being his 2nd language. That is a broad brush thinking that people who speak English as a 2nd language have little grasp on how to write or speak. In fact Gunsmoke used the word properly; it’s just that he was arrogant and full of himself by belittling porto.
Surely Ibrahim , your first and second sentences contradict each other.
Both cannot be right, so which do you stand by and which do you reject?
GRAMMAR POLICE make another arrest….
Football has gotten to a stage where every team regardless of where they come from has to be respected. There are no small team. We should not underestimate Porto. Remember they’ve been champions league winner before.
Ayan, You say”they” when referring to Porto. But the “they ” you refer to is the team at THAT time and also the club. But logical thinking shows us that their team of today and their team of THAT time are poles apart.
YOU ARE SIMPLY COMPARING TEAMS FROM DIFFERENT TIMES, WHICH ARE TOTALLY UNLIKE EACH OTHER.
And that is NOT logical. It can never be!
WHICH IS WHAT LETS YOUR POST DOWN.
Any comparison, in order to have any worth at all, MUST compare like with like, OR it is a worthless comparison.