Sergio Conceicao insists FC Porto will have to be at their very best against an Arsenal side who can ‘speed up the game like no one else’ in the Champions League knockout stages tonight.
There was a time, no so long ago, when the Estadio do Dragao was one of the most feared stages in European football. Certainly for UK-based clubs.
Flash forward to 2024 however and, with FC Porto winning just one of their last ten continental games against English opposition, The Dragons appear to have lost a bit of their fire and their fear-factor, Arsenal going into this intriguing last-16 clash as big favourites to progress these days.
Sergio Conceicao, Porto’s increasingly under-pressure head coach, is certainly under no illusions about the size of the task that awaits a side who recently dropped points to Arouca and Rio Ave, and look a long way from their UCL-winning 2004 vintage.
Arsenal favourites to beat Porto in Champions League
“We looked at Arsenal being very strong in the moments of the game, with talent,” Conceicao tells Record, having poured through the footage of Mikel Arteta’s side at their scintillating best while being blown away by The Gunners ability to step on the accelerator and go from zero to 60 in the blink of an eye.
“They know how to speed up the game like no one else, with wingers. And this causes difficulties in one-on-one (situations). It is a team that presents itself in the last third. This makes the challenge slightly different from what we have in Portugal.
“The story has to do with this power and with some situations that arise from Arsenal’s way of being. We have to be competent in the different phases; Realising that this cohesion and defensive solidity will be the key to winning.”
Arsenal take on Porto in the first leg tonight before welcoming Conceicao’s side to the Emirates three weeks later. A victory in the tie will see the London giants reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2009/10 when they – ironically enough – hammered Porto 5-0 to set up a clash with Barcelona.
Conceicao wants his team to raise their game
“Theoretically, we can say yes (Arsenal is our hardest game so far),” Conceicao adds. “That it will be the opponent that can create more difficulties.
“But then it all depends. We need a competent, intense, intelligent FC Porto, understanding when we can and should press. When and where.
“Because then we run the risk of giving to Arsenal what they want. We don’t want to do that. Let’s go deeper into the details of the preparation, to understand, there is so much quality, so much to cancel out.
“That’s why the video (analysis sessions) are longer.”
Long-term absentees Thomas Partey and Fabio Vieira were spotted back in training ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Portugal. Vieira may be in contention to feature against the side where he made his name before that £30 million move to England in 2022.
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