Chelsea vs Porto Champions League preview: where to watch, predicted line-ups, team news
Monday, April 12, 2021
Article summary
Where to watch, possible line-ups and expert predictions ahead of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg between Chelsea and Porto.
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Chelsea host Porto in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday 13 April at 21:00 CET.
What happened in the first leg?
The game may have been in Seville, but Chelsea pulled off the archetypal European away display. The Blues' well-drilled defence withstood long spells of Porto superiority, allowing two moments of individual excellence at the other end – first UEFA Champions League goals for Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell – to secure a valuable 2-0 victory.
Where to watch the game on TV
Fans can find their local UEFA Champions League broadcast partner(s) here.
Form guide
Form: WWLWWD
Latest: Crystal Palace 1-4 Chelsea, 10/04
Where they stand: 5th in Premier League, FA Cup semi-finals
Form: WLWWWL
Latest: Tondela 0-2 Porto, 10/04
Where they stand: 2nd in Liga
Possible line-ups
Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rüdiger; James, Jorginho, Kovačić, Alonso; Mount, Havertz, Pulišić
Porto: Marchesín; Manafá, Pepe, Mbemba, Zaidu; Corona, Sérgio Oliveira, Uribe, Otávio; Marega, Taremi
Expert predictions
Jon Phipps, Chelsea reporter: Chelsea battled their way to a first-leg win with two moments of genuine quality in front of goal. They followed that up with a comprehensive success at Crystal Palace and now will hope to complete the job. Kai Havertz and Christian Pulišić shone on Saturday, and the Blues were solid at the back as always. They may be finding form at just the right time.
Carlos Machado, Porto reporter: Porto are well aware of the mountain they have to climb, but know that they outplayed Chelsea at times in the first leg. Once more, they need an immense performance like they produced at Juventus in the last round. Porto mistakes gave Chelsea goals in the first leg, but that 5-2 Premier League loss at home to West Brom last week showed that Chelsea can blunder too.
View from the camps
Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea manager: "We have to accept against Porto that the game will be up and down. Sometimes they overload sides and give you a lot of questions. If we want to end the season with a trophy then we had better win [this match and the weekend FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City] or it will be a bit difficult. The most important thing is to fully focus on what we do, forget we already have a result [like] we did against Palace [in the league at the weekend]. We can be confident. We are always a tough team to play against."
Sérgio Conceição, Porto coach: "We are confident. We know that we face a difficult task, but we are here to give the answer that we have to give. In these games, going all out from the off can be harmful. We have to be a compact, cohesive team. We have to score goals, but also to avoid conceding. We were good in the first leg, but not that good; if we were, we would have won. We will try to improve on what was a good team performance."