Porto Set Up for Defeat. Where Did They Go Wrong?

I remember listening to the pre-match press before the Arsenal/Porto Second leg Champions league fixture as I always do to get a glimpse of the team views and mentality towards the game. What I heard from the Porto camp could not make me any happier.

Firstly, to hear players like Falcao emphasizing that, "We have to stop Cesc Fabregas," (which clearly was there strategy in the first game) made their lack of knowledge, and more importantly, lack of research of the Arsenal team glaring. There is no doubt Cesc Fabregas is Arsenal's best player but to focus on him is a mistake that the more learned Premier league teams know not to make.

With a bit of research they would have noticed that Alex Song is not only a protector of the back line but also an excellent distributor of the ball, they would be aware of the immense creative ability of Andrei Arshavin. They would have been aware of the neat box-to-box break and play of Abou Diaby and his desire to play one-twos in and around the opponents 18-yard box.

They would have taken into account the ascendancy in form of Samir Nasri, or the aerial threat and faultless positioning of Nicklas Bendtner, the list goes on. Truth is they can't handle all these threats individually but the way they structured their game and tactics could have been better to ease the result.

When Cesc pulled out of the Burnley game on Saturday, I was sad and concerned for a while but on second thought I remember thinking "this could be the best thing that happened to us for Tuesday night."

The pre-match press conference with the Porto manager had him looking distraught and making statements when asked about Cesc Fabregas' absence like "Success always depends on the collective team, every player is part."

Prior to this, he had already made a second and more dire mistake; "We will try to do the same thing we did at the Estadio do Dragao".Unless you have the quality, you don't play a good side away from home the same way you play them at home. A task they couldn't successfully accomplish two years ago, even when they had Lisandro Lopez.

There's nothing better than an opponent that doesn't learn from their mistakes. Hope we play you again next year Porto.