FC Porto Vs Arsenal: The Gunners Hunt For Dreams To The Round Of 8

JAKARTA - After a seven-year absence from the knockout stages of the Champions League, Arsenal are now flying to Portugal for the first leg of the last 16 meeting against Porto on Wednesday night, February 21.

The Gunners ended the group stage as winners of Group B finally meeting Sergio Conceicao's side, who qualified for the knockout stages through second place in Group H behind Barcelona.

When Benfica and Braga were forced to continue their campaign in the European League because they finished third in the Champions League group stage, Porto was the only Portuguese team left in Europe's elite competition. They have reached the elimination round for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Group H ended like the original scenario, as Porto took second place behind Barcelona thanks to four wins from four matches against Royalikarp and Shakhtar Donetsk. While they have a better goal difference than the La Liga champions, their inferior head-to-head record makes them have to settle for runner-up.

With 12 points, the Primeira League giant has another chance to correct several mistakes in the Champions League, having failed to advance further from the quarter-finals since the 1993-94 tournament. Moreover, their struggle in the 2022-23 season ended in this round due to a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Inter Milan.

Seven of Porto's last eight games in the knockout stages of the Champions League against England also knocked them out. The only success of sending the Premier League team home was defeating Manchester United in the last 16 in 2004, and successfully conquering the continent that season.

Twenty years later, the Conceicao team hosted Arsenal with a record unbeaten 10 matches in all tournaments at the Estadio do Dragao. In fact, recently past Estrela Amadira 2-0 in last Saturday's Primeira League match, which saw the Dragons record a fifth clean sheet in a row at home.

During their 10-match unbeaten streak in front of their own supporters, Porto's defense conceded only five times. But theUNfortunate Arsenal scored the same number of goals in 90 minutes during the Premier League match which rained with Burnley Saturday afternoon, February 16.

The previous week destroyed West Ham United 6-0, which became their biggest winning record in the Premier League on an away spot. A prolific Arsenal re-occurred in Turf Moor, winning their first five league games in a calendar year for the first time in their 138-year history.

Gooners have celebrated an astonishing 21 goals in five Premier League games since Arsenal returned from Dubai's excellent training camp, and the prospect of winning double titles in the Premier League and the Champions League remains alive for Mikel Arteta's men, who returned to the Champions League brilliantly.

Sevilla, Lens, and PSV Eindhoven did not provide a glamorous opponent, but the Gunners remained focused on the existing task and ensured the top position with one game remaining, and conceded only four goals in their six matches. Only Real Sociedad has qualified for the last 16 with a better defensive record.

The four goals Arsenal got came from away matches. The Gunners have been haunted by the curse of the last 16 since the 2010-11 season, they were eliminated seven times in a row in this round before they were in the Europa League.

The Gunners last reached the quarter-finals in the 2009-10 season, as they got tickets thanks to a 6-2 aggregate win over Porto in the round of 16, although they are still waiting for their first away win against Portugal's strength.

Injured Player

Porto's win over Estrela over the weekend wasn't entirely the perfect night for Conceicao, as left-back Zaidu Sanusi was pulled out in the 32nd minute with a ligamentary injury, leaving the Nigerian out for the remainder of the season.

Sanusi is one of two Dragons defenders who suffered an ACL injury. Ivan Marcano also had a small chance of returning before the end of the season. Conceicao was supposed to call Jorge Sanchez to join the home line, which is still filled by veteran 40-year-old Pepe.

The availability of Stephen Eustaquio's midfield anchor was also unclear after the Canadian missed his latest win over Estrela. But Alan Varela has at least managed to recover from the inconvenience of a full 90-minute defense.

Ahead of the anticipated free transfer to Inter Milan this summer, Mehdi Taremi must be placed ahead with Evanilson, a four-goal scorer in five group stage matches and a total of 19 goals for the 2023-24 season.

As far as Arsenal is concerned, Emile Smith Rowe returns from concerns that the ankle is on time to sit on the bench against Burnley, but none of Gabriel Jesus (lutut), Oleksandr Zinchenko (betis), or Takehiro Tomiyasu (beats) are given the green light to play and remain in doubt.