He thinks He’s here to end my career today not knowing that I have plans already to destroy Him,if He doesn’t leave Here injured tonight then I’m not a defender’: Porto defender Pepe reveals the only Arsenal player that He is afraid to face today
He thinks He’s here to end my career today not knowing that I have plans already to destroy Him,if He doesn’t leave Here injured tonight then I’m not a defender’: Porto defender Pepe reveals the only Arsenal player that He is afraid to face today
FC Porto boss Sergio Conceicao is highlighting the remarkable depth at Arsenal’s disposal with neither Leandro Trossard nor Jakub Kiwior guaranteed starters for Mikel Arteta’s Champions League challengers.
Porto, as one of Portugal’s ‘big three’ along with Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, are used to finding themselves in the ‘Goliath’ role.
Ahead of Tuesday’s last-16 tie with Arsenal, however, Conceicao’s side are cosplaying as ‘David’, Mikel Arteta’s well-heeled visitors the big favourites to secure a quarter-final berth at their host’s expense.
The Estadio do Dragao boss, speaking to Record during his pre-match press conference, was keen to highlight to size and the quality of the squad opposite number Arteta has at his disposal, with talents such as Leandro Trossard and Jakub Kiwior spending much time on the bench.
Arsenal face Porto in Champions League last-16
“With increasingly rich squads, we are talking about the most competitive, most financially capable championship in the world (the Premier League),” Conceicao argues.
“The squads are filled with different solutions. Trossard has played and scored goals, with Gabriel Jesus out. Kiwior who, for me is a (player good enough to be a) starter, doesn’t play. (Oleksandr) Zinchenko plays. They change goalkeepers (David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale sharing duties).
“There is a lot of quality. A lot of quality solutions.
“But we’re going to fight. This is like in our league. We have a completely different market value than Arouca and Arouca beat FC Porto (earlier in February).
“But we are aware of the great difficulty we will encounter.”
Trossard, the Belgium international who would walk into the starting XI of many Champions League clubs, has started only nine times in England’s top flight this term. Kiwior, meanwhile, has been included in Arteta’s first-choice team in only one of Arsenal’s six European games so far in 2023/24.
Mikel Arteta’s team are in stunning form
Conceiceo is also wary of Arsenal’s ability to press with ferocity and coherency from the front, with any Porto errors in possession likely to be punished by a side who have won their last two games by an aggregate score of 11-0.
“It’s true that, with the first pass from the goalkeeper, they are very aggressive at that moment of the game. It’s a team very together, very compact,” adds the former Portugal star.
“When they have the ball, we also have to be bold. But don’t be too bold because then we also leave ourself open a little bit at the back, and they have wingers (who can) cause imbalances. Ultimately, it has to be a very balanced game and intelligent on our part.
“We will have to be very focused in our preparation.”
