Vòng 1/8 Champions League
-03:00 February 22: Porto vs Arsenal (Live FPT Play)
The last meeting between the two teams was the 2010 Champions League season, the first leg Porto won 2-1 but the second leg lost miserably 0-5 on Arsenal’s field.
Confrontation statistics show that Arsenal has met Porto 6 times in the Champions League knockout matches and all won the right to advance after two matches.
Arsenal beat Porto 5-0 in 2010. Photo: UEFA
In this season’s qualifying round, Arsenal won top spot in Group B while Porto also played impressively, finishing second in Group H, behind Barcelona.
Right now in Primeira Liga, Porto is ranked 3rd, 7 points behind top team Benfica and their opportunity to bring home the season’s titles is still wide open. Arsenal is also having an extremely impressive series of matches, having won all of the last 5 matches in the Premier League, climbing to 3rd and only losing 2 points to top team Liverpool, officially returning to the championship race.
Will Porto fail again against English football? Photo: Primeira Liga
That means in terms of performance, both are currently stable and energetic. But what is worth noting is that Porto always loses in the knockout matches against English teams in the Champions League, losing 7/8 of the knockout matches. The only time Porto eliminated an English team was the victory over MU in the 2004 season, the year Jose Mourinho helped them win the title.
Good form helps Arsenal confidently host Porto. Photo: EPL
In terms of force, Porto lost Marcano and Zaidu Sanusi. Meanwhile, Arsenal is missing 5 positions, including Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko.
In all aspects, Arsenal is still more trustworthy and will have a victory, even if it is narrow?
Probable teams:
Porto: Coast; Zaidu, Otavio, Pepe, Mario; Nico, Varela, Galeno, Pepê, Conceicao; Evanilson
Arsenal: Stripe; White, Salba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice, Odegaard, Havertz; Martinelli, Trossard, Foot.
-03:00 February 22: Napoli vs Barcelona (Live FPT Play)
Napoli has decided to fire coach Walter Mazzarri. Replacing Rudi Garcia in November 2023, this veteran coach did not help Napoli stop the decline. The defending champion Italy has dropped to 9th in Serie A with only 36 points, 9 points away from the Top 4.
Napoli right now is just an average team. Photo: NPL
Walter Mazzarri only won 6 wins out of 17 matches in charge, calculating a winning rate of only 35%. The replacement is Francesco Calzona, who is Mazzarri’s former assistant at Napoli and is currently leading the Slovakia national team. He will hold two jobs in parallel with a short-term contract until the end of the season. But it is difficult to look forward to Calzona because his military career up to this point has been completely lackluster.
With only one day of preparation, it may be difficult for Calzona to cast a spell to help Napoli change shape immediately when facing Barcelona.
Barcelona won 4-2 against Napoli in 2022 in the Europa League. Photo: UEFA
In 6 confrontations with Barcelona, Napoli has never won with 2 draws and 4 losses. The last time in 2022 in the Europa League they lost 2-4 at home.
The away team is currently showing signs of ‘recovering’ with 4 unbeaten matches in La Liga but is almost out of the championship race due to being far behind Real. In the Champions League, this is the first time Barca has reached the 1/8 round after two consecutive years of being eliminated in the group stage.
Barcelona has never lost to Napoli in all 6 meetings. Photo: FCB
Napoli is without Zielinski this match, but key striker Victor Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia are ready to play after being absent due to injury. Barca is without the services of Araujo, Felix, Ferran Torres, Roberto, Gavi, Alonso and Balde due to injury.
