For the first time since 2017, Arsenal are in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
On paper, it feels like the draw has been kind to us. Porto are certainly not at the level of others still in the competition. But that does not mean the game will be a walkover.
We all remember last season in the last 16 of the Europa League when we were knocked out by Porto’s countrymen Sporting Lisbon. And two years before that, we failed to breakdown a stubborn Villareal team at home in the semi-finals of Europe’s second competition. And let’s not forget that Round of 32 defeat to Olympiacos in 2020.
For a club with as much success as our own, our lack of European trophies is a black stain on the clubs history.
Our last 7 Champions League campaigns have seen us knocked out at the Last 16 stage, and whilst there is no shame in losing to Bayern Munich, Barcelona or AC Milan, there was shame in the manner of defeat. And in 2015, we were feeling like we are today against Porto. That Monaco should be a comfortable route into the quartet final.
It was the same in 2007 as well.
The year after we lost the final against Barcelona, we faced PSV in the Last 16. It was a tie we should have comfortably won but the heroics of Heurelho Gomes and Alex saw us dumped out of the competition.
I hate writing negative blogs on the day of a big game. But this serves as a reminder that there are no easy games in Europe at this stage.
Porto sit 3rd in the Primeira Liga, behind Sporting and Benfica. They are captained by Pepe. The Real Madrid legend turns 41 in a week.
The difficulty of facing Portuguese teams is they often contain a huge amount of younger, fairly unknown Brazilian players who have been recruited in to generate huge fees when they are sold.
The likes of Evanlison and Alan Varela certainly fall into this category – although the Porto have fallen behind their two domestic rivals in terms of recruiting from South America.
Porto qualified 2nd in the Champions League group behind Barcelona, losing just twice to the Catalan giants. Those defeats were tight games with Barca winning both by just a single goal. Shakhtar Donetsk and Antwerp were easily swept aside.
From 2006-2010 we faced Porto 6 times, winning 3, drawing once and losing twice. The most recent of those games was a 5-0 win for The Arsenal. But ultimately with those games nearly a decade a half ago, our head to head stats mean nothing.
We can not afford to take Porto lightly like we did with Sporting last season. Hopefully that loss last season is a lesson learnt for us. al mindset.
We just need to go into today with a profession. View it that we are facing a top European team in the Champions League.
If you are out there today, enjoy the game, enjoy the Superboc and enjoy the sunshine!
UTA
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 