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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