Porto - Schalke 1 @ 1.70
Porto are looking to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit at the Estadio do Dragão and make it through to the quarter-finals, whereas for Schalke, their ‘game of the season’ could well save Mirko Slomka’s job. It promises to be an exciting and eventful evening in Portugal on Wednesday.
Porto will go into the second leg full of confidence that they can use their home advantage to beat Schalke by the required score. The first leg was a rather tight affair with an early 4th minute Kevin Kuranyi goal sealing a narrow win for the German side, although Porto were rather disappointing as an attacking force.
This will have to be different on Wednesday and surely cheered on by over 40,000 home fans Porto will raise their game. Trainer Jesualdo Ferreira was far from pleased with the first leg performance but remains confident however.
“We were knocked off our stride by the early goal and after that we were under a lot of pressure. We can't be happy with the first half at all” Ferreira explained.
“In the second half we did not find the appropriate answer. The 1-0 scoreline is not a bad result, we can still progress and we can look ahead to the second leg with confidence.
Porto’s home form in Europe certainly backs up this confidence. In their group fixtures, the Dragons beat both Marseille and Besiktas and drew with Liverpool. Overall, the Portuguese giants have only ever lost one Champions League game at the Estadio do Dragão
Probable starting XI Porto: Helton - Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Fucile - Lucho Gonzalez, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles - Lisandro Lopez, Farias, Ricardo Quaresma
Probable starting XI: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Jones, Ernst - , Kobiashvili, Rakitic, Streit - Kuranyi
I think Porto will win but i'm not sure they will advence to the next round
Porto will go into the second leg full of confidence that they can use their home advantage to beat Schalke by the required score. The first leg was a rather tight affair with an early 4th minute Kevin Kuranyi goal sealing a narrow win for the German side, although Porto were rather disappointing as an attacking force.
This will have to be different on Wednesday and surely cheered on by over 40,000 home fans Porto will raise their game. Trainer Jesualdo Ferreira was far from pleased with the first leg performance but remains confident however.
“We were knocked off our stride by the early goal and after that we were under a lot of pressure. We can't be happy with the first half at all” Ferreira explained.
“In the second half we did not find the appropriate answer. The 1-0 scoreline is not a bad result, we can still progress and we can look ahead to the second leg with confidence.
Porto’s home form in Europe certainly backs up this confidence. In their group fixtures, the Dragons beat both Marseille and Besiktas and drew with Liverpool. Overall, the Portuguese giants have only ever lost one Champions League game at the Estadio do Dragão
Probable starting XI Porto: Helton - Bosingwa, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Fucile - Lucho Gonzalez, Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles - Lisandro Lopez, Farias, Ricardo Quaresma
Probable starting XI: Neuer - Rafinha, Bordon, Krstajic, Westermann - Jones, Ernst - , Kobiashvili, Rakitic, Streit - Kuranyi
I think Porto will win but i'm not sure they will advence to the next round
posted by Midnight Sun @ 11:13,
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