The Champions’ League draw has taken place and Arsenal has been given what looks like a favourable draw against Portuguese giants, Porto.
Analysts say as a name, Porto is a big club, but they are not the same team they have been in recent seasons, mainly due to Financial Fair Play problems and Arsenal should be fairly content with this match-up.
It certainly could have been a lot more difficult and shows the advantage of finishing first in the group stage.
The other English side, Manchester City, has also been handed a good draw with Danish side FC Copenhagen their opponents.
This is the draw in full:
FC Porto v Arsenal
Napoli v Barcelona
Paris St-Germain v Real Sociedad
Inter Milan v Atletico Madrid
PSV Eindhoven v Borussia Dortmund
Lazio v Bayern Munich
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
The first legs will be played 13-14 and 20-21 February with the second legs on 5-6 and 12-13 March.
Arsenal and Porto first met competitively in the Champions’ League group stage in 2006/07. The Gunners won 2-0 in matchday 1 at the Emirates with Thierry Henry and Aleksandr Hleb being the goalscorers. They played out a goalless draw in the reverse fixture.
In 2008/09 season, Arsene Wenger’s side comfortably saw off the threat of Porto with a resounding 4-0 win in the first match day. Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor bagged a brace.
With qualification confirmed for both teams, a weakened Gunners line-up went on to lose 2-1 on the road and thereby finished second in the group behind Porto by one point.
In the Champions League round of 16 – 2009/10 season, Arsenal suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at the Estadio do Dragao in the first leg. The club, however, responded tremendously at home with a resounding 5-0 win to secure a 6-2 aggregate victory. Nicklas Bendtner bagged a hat-trick while Samir Nasri scored a sublime solo goal.
