Arsenal is set to face FC Porto in the Champions League Round of 16.
According to the Gunners’ sporting director, Edu Gaspar, they must be prepared before playing against the Portugese giants. Edu said the following things about the Champions League Round of 16 draw at the 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 took the lead for the Champions League group stages, unperturbed by their inexperience. In six games, they won four times, drew one, and lost one. They only got a spot in the Round of 16 by Match Day 5, amassing 12 points, which shows that despite their performance on Match Day 6 (they drew with PSV), they would win Group B.
So, can the Gunners win the Champions League over FC Porto? They might, and Mikel Arterta said that after the 1-1 draw with PSV on Match Day 6, his sights has been on the Champions League crown. Porto is just one hurdle in that race.
“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 replied, when asked if he had seen enough for Arsenal to win the Champions League.
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