If FC Porto already knew in the draw for the round of 16 of the Champions League that it would not have much margin to avoid a strong opponent, in the case of the Europa League the draw was quite friendly for Sporting, Benfica and Sporting de Braga. The Dragons will take on Arsenal, the current leaders of the English League. The Lions will have Young Boys, from Switzerland, as their opponent, the Eagles will face Toulouse, from France, and the Bragaenses will face the Azeris from Qarabag. The Europa League play-off matches are scheduled for February 15 and 22. The draw with Arsenal is scheduled for February 21 and March 12.
Let’s start with the Champions League. The draw was almost a “come and choose”, yet Real Sociedad could theoretically be considered the most accessible opponent for FC Porto. But out of the ball came Arsenal, first placed in the English Championship, coached by Mikel Arteta, whose squad includes former Porto player Fábio Vieira and also Cédric Soares.
Vítor Baía, FC Porto’s representative at the draw, revealed that the Dragons “are not afraid of anyone” and recalled that the Porto team has “a very specific DNA in this competition”. But he did not hide that they are a very strong opponent: “Arsenal has weapons that unfortunately we do not have. It is in fact an unequal fight, but we have done real miracles with what we have,” he said. .
And FC Porto actually has a lot on their minds. Arsenal’s squad is valued at well over a billion euros and combines experienced players with young players of enormous quality. The strongest sector is probably the forwards, who scored 35 goals in 17 games in the English league this season, and 16 goals in six games in the Champions group stage.
Names such as midfielder Jorginho, the Brazilian attacking duo Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli, or the German Kai Havertz and the Englishman Bukayo Saca are just a few examples, in addition to reinforcement Declan Rice, who comes from West Ham in exchange for 116 million euros. , which is testament to the investment capacity of the London club.
The history of clashes between Arsenal and FC Porto shows a total of six matches, with three English wins, one draw and two wins for the Dragons. The last time they met was in the 2009-2010 season, in the round of 16 of the Champions League. The Porto fans won 2-1 at home, but were defeated 5-0 (and eliminated) in the second leg. The Dragons will play the first leg at home on February 21 and March 12 in London.
Toulouse with two faces
Benfica, who dropped from the Champions League (third place in the group) to the Europa League, will face Toulouse, 15th in the French league, in the play-off. An initially accessible opponent, but has shown two faces this season. In the group stage of the Europa League, finishing in second place, they recorded two victories against the mighty Liverpool. But internally it has accumulated failures.
This was emphasized by Simão Sabrosa, Benfica’s representative at the draw. “Despite not doing so well in the French championship, as we all know, they had a very good group stage in the Europa League, only one point behind Liverpool,” he said, rejecting favoritism: “We just have to “To think about. Round by round. Take it match by match and do what we did, represent Benfica in the best way possible, respect the opponent and try to reach the next stage.”
In the French team, coached by Spaniard Carles Martínez, Dutch striker Thijs Dallinga stands out with four goals in the Europa League and five in the French league. Benfica and Toulouse have never met in official matches. The only record occurred in 2011, in a pre-season match in which the Eagles won 1-0 (goal by center back Jardel).
Sports against synthetic materials
Sporting cannot complain about their luck, because they avoided opponents such as AC Milan and Feyenoord. Thus, the Lions will face Young Boys, the current leaders of the Swiss Championship (they have won five of the last six editions) who “fell out” of the Champions League – they were in third place in a group consisting of Manchester City, RB Leipzig and Red Star.
Although Sporting have never played Young Boys, the history of clashes with Swiss teams clearly favors the Lions, who have won 10, drawn three and lost four in 17 games. And they also record a favorable goal difference against Swiss teams, with 22 scored against 13 against, but they lose in the knockout match, in which they passed twice and were eliminated in three.
One of the Lions’ biggest problems during their visit to Switzerland could be the artificial turf at Bern’s Suisse Stadium, also known as Wankdorf, which has already been heavily criticized by clubs playing there.
The Swiss team usually plays in 4X4X2 and the main highlights are the Portuguese striker Joël Monteiro, who has four goals and two assists this season, and especially Jean-Pierre Nsame, who represented Veneza last season, from Italy, and who has already this year twelve goals. Also pay attention to Darian Males, who is on loan from Inter Milan.
Qarabag with familiar faces
Sp.Braga will face Qarabag, the chronic champion of Azerbaijan, whose roster includes several players with experience in Portuguese football, such as the Brazilians Matheus Silva (ex-Farense and ex-Moreirense), Júlio Romão (ex-Santa Clara) and Juninho (ex-Estoril and ex-Desp. Chaves), the Colombian Kevin Medina (ex-Ac. Viseu and ex-Desp. Chaves, among others) and the Cape Verdean Patrick Andrade (ex-Moreirense, ex-Desp. Famalicão and ex -Salgueiros) and Leandro Andrade, trained at Sporting and internationally for Cape Verde, who played as a senior for Olhanense and Fátima.
Vesovic, an experienced international right-back for Montenegro, is a key figure in the defense and will be absent from the first match after being sent off in the Azeris’ final challenge in Group H of the Europa League, in the 2 -1. victory over Sweden’s HK Hacken.
32-year-old central defender Badavi Huseynov, who has been at the club for years and appointed by Azerbaijan, is also an important part of the defense. In midfield, Algerian and Montenegrin internationals Yassine Benzia and Jankovic stand out respectively. The former was a French international at youth level until he opted for the Algerian national team and spent time at Lille, Fenerbahçe (Turkey) or Olympiacos (Greece). Jankovic played in the Italian Serie A for SPAL, having previously played for Serbian side Partizan.
In attack, Juninho was the big figure, with fifteen goals (twelve in the championship and three in Europe), assisted by the Moroccan Zoubir and the Frenchman Hamidou Keyta, with a short spell in Santa Clara in 2021/22.
Source: DN
