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The quarter-finals
At 19:05 GMT
Stadium Aldrajao
21 ° C
the news
the news
The UEFA Europa League is now down to the Quarterfinal stage, this match sees Portugal versus Russia as FC Porto hosts Spartak Moscow in the First Leg at the Estádio do Dragão.
Porto comes into this match on great form as they are coming off a huge league win over rivals Benfica, and have been crowned champions of the Portuguese First Division (their 25 th league title in the history of the club). Their Europa League form is just as impressive as they only lost 1 match so far in the entire tournament, that loss was the teams first in their last 7 home matches in Europe. The Portuguese outfit will actually feel comfortable with this match up even though these teams are meeting for the first time, having dispatched Russian opposition in the last round beating CSKA Moscow 3-1 in aggregate. Porto has one of the most in demand young coaching minds in the game, as André Villas-Boas is earning a lot of respect from the soccer world. A disciple of Jose Mourinho he has learned from one of the most successful coaches and is looking to duplicate similar European success with Porto as his mentor did. This is a squad full of attacking talent, but the players to watch are Forwards Radamel Falcao and Hulk, they compliment each other well and have combined for 10 goals in this competition. The winner of this match will play the winner of the Villarreal and Twente, however with SC Braga and Benfica also in the competition this is the first time three Portugese teams have made it to the Quarterfinals in the same UEFA competition. Portuguese supporters should be excited by the fact that there is a chance to see an all Portuguese Semifinals and Final.
As for Spartak, although they have been playing in European competition the Russian Premier League works on a different calendar and they are just beginning their domestic season. The Russian outfit dropped down from the Champions League group stages by virtue of their 3 rd place group finish, but they have responded by defeating fellow Champions League drop outs Basel and completely dismantling another Champions League victim in Ajax by a 4-0 aggregate score line. Spartak Moscow’s overall record against Portugese sides is 3 -2 -1 with a record of 2-0-1 when playing in Portugal. Although Russian and Portuguese sides have never meet in the Quarterfinals of UEFA competition they have meet in the Finals, and Spartak Moscow can feel good knowing Russia came out on top as CSKA Moscow defeated Sporting Lisbon 3-1 to win the 2005 UEFA Cup. The main players to watch for in Coach Valery Karpin are three from their Brazilian contingent in captain and Midfielder Alex, Forward Welliton and Midfielder Ibson (who came over to Spartak from FC Porto after a 4 year spell).
The main reason why I enjoy the Europa League is because of matches like this, two team that have never meet before are playing for something historic. I like Porto to win this tie and advance to the Semifinals, but with this game at the Dragão, I will take the OVER as both team have shown a knack for hitting the back of the net as of late.
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