Porto vs Arsenal facts

Arsenal are bidding to end a record run of seven successive UEFA Champions League round of 16 defeats as they travel to the Estádio do Dragão to take on a Porto side who themselves have not progressed beyond this stage since 2020/21.

The Gunners, in their first Champions League campaign for seven seasons, lost in the last 16 in every campaign between 2010/11 and 2016/17, their last aggregate victory at this juncture coming at Porto's expense in 2009/10.

Arsenal are in the round of 16 for the 15th time, one more than Porto and behind only Real Madrid (21), Bayern München (20), Barcelona (18) and Chelsea (17). The London club's nine losses at this stage is a Champions League record.

Mikel Arteta's side picked up 13 points in this season's group stage to finish four above runners-up PSV Eindhoven in Group B. Porto managed only one point fewer in Group H but missed out on top spot by virtue of their head-to-head record against Barcelona, who beat them twice.

Previous meetings

Porto wins 2
Arsenal wins 3
Draws 1
Porto goals 4
Arsenal goals 12

The sides have met on six previous occasions, all between 2006 and 2010, most recently in the 2009/10 Champions League round of 16, when Arsenal prevailed 6-2 on aggregate.

Porto were 2-1 winners in the home first leg, Silvestre Varela's 11th-minute opener cancelled out seven minutes later by Sol Campbell before Radamel Falcao scored what proved to be the decisive goal six minutes after half-time.

The second leg at the Arsenal Stadium proved a far more one-sided affair, Nicklas Bendtner scoring a hat-trick for the home side (10, 25, 90+1pen) with Samir Nasri (63) and Emmanuel Eboué (66) also on target.

Arsène Wenger's Arsenal went on to lose 6-3 on aggregate to Barcelona in the quarter-finals.

The teams' other four fixtures all came in the Champions League group stage. Goals from Thierry Henry (38) and Aleksandr Hleb (48) earned Arsenal a 2-0 home win against Porto in 2006/07, the subsequent match in Portugal finishing goalless as Arsenal finished first in Group G on 11 points, level with runners-up Porto but ahead on head-to-head record.

Each side won their home fixture when the sides were paired again in 2008/09. Robin van Persie (31, 48) and Emmanuel Adebayor (40, 71pen) both scored twice in Arsenal's 4-0 victory in north London on Matchday 2 before goals from Bruno Alves (39) and Lisandro López (54) earned Porto a 2-0 win at Estádio do Dragão on Matchday 6, a result that took them through as Group G winners on 12 points, one more than runners-up Arsenal.

Form guide

Porto

Record vs English clubs: W9 D10 L25 F40 A82
Home record vs English clubs: W8 D7 L7

Porto's last games against a Premier League team came in the 2021/22 group stage, when they lost 5-1 at home and 2-0 away against Liverpool.

The Dragons have lost seven of their last ten fixtures against English opponents, a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the 2020/21 Champions League quarter-final second leg their only victory in that run; they lost that tie 2-1 on aggregate.

Porto have never won in England where their record is D3 L18 F11 A53 with defeats in eight of their last nine trips.

The Portuguese side's overall home record against English clubs is W8 D7 L7; all seven defeats have come in their last 11 matches.

Porto's record in two-legged ties with English clubs is W3 L10. They have lost the last seven and have not beaten English opposition in a knockout tie since José Mourinho's side eliminated Manchester United in the 2003/04 Champions League round of 16 (2-1 h, 1-1 a).

Porto are featuring in the Champions League for the 27th time, level with Bayern and one behind the competition record held by Barcelona and Real Madrid.

This is the Portuguese club's 12th appearance in the last 13 seasons, with five of their last six campaigns having extended into the knockout rounds.

The Dragons were edged out by eventual runners-up Inter in the 2022/23 round of 16, losing 1-0 in Milan before a 0-0 draw in Portugal. Porto had finished first in Group B ahead of Club Brugge, Bayer Leverkusen and Atlético de Madrid.

Porto's overall record in the round of 16 is W5 L8; they have won only three of their last eight ties although before losing to Inter last season they had been victorious against successive Italian opponents after extra time: Roma in 2018/19 (1-2 a, 3-1 h) and Juventus in 2020/21 (2-1 h, 2-3 a).

This season, Porto have lost only to Barcelona, 1-0 at home and 2-1 away. After beating Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in Germany on Matchday 1, they overcame Antwerp 4-1 away and 2-1 at home and sealed second place in the section with a 5-3 home win against Shakhtar in their final fixture.

That was one of 16 wins in Porto's last 34 games in the Champions League proper (D4 L14).

The Matchday 2 loss to Barcelona is one of only four defeats in Porto's last 17 home games in the Champions League group stage, with 12 victories in that sequence.

Porto were European champions in 1987 and 2004. They are the only Portuguese side to reach the Champions League final.

Arsenal

Record vs Portuguese clubs: W7 D7 L4 F32 A19
Away record vs Portuguese clubs: W1 D5 L3

Arsenal's 2022/23 European campaign was ended by Portuguese opponents, a 2-2 draw at Sporting CP in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg preceding another draw in north London, this time 1-1 after extra time, before the English club lost 5-3 on penalties.

A 1-0 win at Sporting on Matchday 3 of the 2018/19 Europa League is Arsenal's only victory in their eight visits to Portugal (D4 L3), where they are unbeaten in three matches (W1 D2). They had never scored more than once on any of their visits to the country, managing just four goals in total, before finding the net twice in Lisbon last season.

Last season's defeat against Sporting made Arsenal's aggregate knockout record against Portuguese opponents W2 L2. They had won the previous two before last season, the most recent a 4-3 aggregate success against Benfica in the 2020/21 Europa League round of 32, when, with both legs played at neutral venues, they followed a 1-1 draw in Rome with a 3-2 win in Piraeus.

This is Arsenal's 20th Champions League campaign – second only to Manchester United's 25 among English clubs – but a first since 2016/17, their 19th in a row, all under Wenger.

In that 2016/17 campaign, the Gunners lost in the round of 16 for the seventh season running, going down 5-1 away and at home against Bayern München.

Arsenal's record in the round of 16 is W5 L9. They won five of their first seven ties but their current run of seven successive defeats includes three at the hands of Bayern, who have beaten them at this stage four times overall.

Arsenal's most successful European campaign in recent years came in 2018/19 when, with Unai Emery in charge, they reached the Europa League final only to lose 4-1 to London rivals Chelsea in Baku.

In 2022/23, now coached by Arteta, Arsenal finished first in their Europa League section to earn direct passage to the round of 16, where they lost on penalties to Sporting.

This season, after marking their return to the Champions League with a 4-0 home win against PSV Eindhoven, Arsenal went down 2-1 at Lens on Matchday 2 but won the next three, against Sevilla (2-1 a, 2-0 h) and Lens (6-0 h) – in the latter match, Arsenal became the first side to have five different scorers in the first half of a Champions League game. They concluded Group B with a 1-1 draw in Eindhoven.

Arsenal have won 12 of their last 20 away European matches, losing only three – although those defeats have come in their last eight fixtures.

The Matchday 3 win at Sevilla was one of just four in the Gunners' last 11 away Champions League matches, with five defeats.

Champions League runners-up in 2006, when they lost 2-1 to Barcelona at the Stade de France, Arsenal were second in the Premier League last season, five points behind Manchester City. It was their highest final league position since also finishing as runners-up, to Leicester, in 2015/16.

Links and trivia

Born in Santa Maria da Feira in the Aveiro district around 25km from Porto, Fábio Vieira joined his local club in 2008 and spent 14 seasons as a Porto player before signing for Arsenal in 2022. He scored ten goals in 76 first-team appearances in all competitions after making his senior debut in 2019 and was part of Porto's Portuguese Liga-winning squads in 2019/20 and 2021/22, also winning the Portuguese Cup in the latter campaign.

Cédric Soares joined Sporting's youth ranks in 1998, aged seven, making his first-team debut in May 2011. After spending the following season on loan at Académica, he went on to establish himself at Sporting, playing 93 times in all competitions and scoring two goals.

Cédric's record against Porto with Sporting and Académica was W2 D3 L4.

Have played in England:
Marko Grujić (Liverpool 2016–20, Cardiff 2018 loan)
Danny Namaso (Reading 2012–20)
Toni Martínez (West Ham 2016–18, Oxford 2017 loan)

Have played together:
Wendell & Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen 2016–20)
Pepe & Martin Ødegaard (Real Madrid CF 2015–17)
Toni Martínez & Declan Rice (West Ham 2016–18)
Wendell & Gabriel Jesus (Brazil Olympics)
Evanilson, Gabriel Magalhães & Gabriel Martinelli (Brazil Olympics)

Wendell and Havertz were both on Leverkusen's books between 2014 and 2020 but were team-mates in the senior side from 2016/17 onwards.

Pepe and Ødegaard were both Real Madrid players between 2015 and 2017, the defender in the senior side and the midfielder mostly assigned to the B team; the sole game in which both were involved was a 7-3 Liga triumph at home to Getafe on 23 May 2015.

Toni Martínez was a West Ham team-mate of Rice at Under-21, U23 and senior level.

International team-mates:
Diogo Costa, João Mário, Romário Baró, Vasco Sousa, Bernardo Folha, Gonçalo Borges, Francisco Conceição & Fábio Vieira (Portugal Under-21)
Pepe & Cédric Soares (Portugal)
Pepê & Gabriel Magalhães, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus (Brazil)

Danny Namaso has represented England at youth level alongside Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka.

While at Real Madrid, Pepe won the UEFA Champions League in 2016, beating Atlético de Madrid on penalties in the final with Thomas Partey coming on late in extra time for Atleti.

A Serbian team including Grujić beat Jesus's Brazil 2-1 in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup final.

Saka scored twice as England won 6-2 against Iran, for whom Mehdi Taremi was on target, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup group stage.

Costa and Ramsdale were opposing goalkeepers when Portugal lost 2-1 to England in the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final in Georgia.

Sérgio Conceição's record against English teams – club and international – as a player was W3 D3 L4. Part of the Porto side beaten 4-0 on aggregate by Manchester United in the 1996/97 Champions League quarter-finals, he was an unused substitute against the same opponents as Lazio won 1-0 in the 1999 UEFA Super Cup. He helped Inter to a 4-2 aggregate victory against Ipswich in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup third round having also been part of the Portugal side that came from two goals down to beat England 3-2 in the UEFA EURO 2000 group stage.

As a coach, Conceição has lost seven of his ten games against English clubs, winning only one.

Havertz scored in each leg as Leverkusen beat Conceição's Porto in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League round of 32.

Latest news

Porto

UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Zé Pedro, Otávio
Out: David Carmo, Fran Navarro

Otávio joined Porto from Famalicão while Carmo and Navarro both departed on loan for Olympiacos.

Porto's record in all competitions since Matchday 6 is W7 D2 L2. They were 2-0 winners at home to Club Foot Estrela on Saturday thanks to goals either side of half-time from Galeno, his third in the league this season, and João Mário with his second – equalling his most prolific league campaign, from 2020/21.

Five days after the Champions League group stage concluded, Porto went down 2-0 at Sporting CP.

That was the Dragons' seventh defeat of the season in only their 24th game – one more defeat than in the whole of last season. Only in 1972/73, when Porto lost for the seventh time in their 17th game, had they reached that mark earlier.

Pepe was sent off against Sporting – the 40-year-old defender's second red card of the season and the 19th of his career.

Sérgio Conceição's side responded by going on an eight-match unbeaten run (W6 D2), winning six of their next seven fixtures.

That included a 4-0 victory at Estoril in the Portuguese Cup round of 32 on 9 January, Evanilson scoring a hat-trick. It was Porto's 17th successive win in the competition, setting a new record; they had shared the previous mark with Benfica, who won 16 in a row between 1979 and 1981.

Porto's last-16 tie at second division Santa Clara on 7 February was abandoned in the 27th minute due to a waterlogged pitch amid heavy rain. The match will be completed on 29 February.

A run of eight successive home wins in all competitions was ended by a 0-0 Portuguese Liga draw against Rio Ave on 3 February. That was Porto's fourth consecutive clean sheet at the Estádio do Dragão; Saturday's victory made it five.

Porto's eight-game unbeaten run was ended by a 3-2 league loss at Arouca on 12 February.

That meant Porto have already dropped 18 points in the league this season, one more than in the entire 2022/23 campaign.

The Dragons' last four defeats have all come away from home.

Evanilson is Porto's top scorer this season with 19 goals in 27 games. The Brazilian has eight goals in his last seven appearances.

Evanilson is also Porto's leading Portuguese Liga scorer with nine for the season; no other player has more than three.

Wendell's two goals in a 5-0 home win against Moreirense on 20 January made it three in the league this season, a career best for the 30-year-old.

Galeno and Danny Namaso both signed contract extensions until 2028 in January.

Zaidu made six appearances as Nigeria reached the Africa Cup of Nations final, while Mehdi Taremi scored three goals in five appearances – and was sent off in the round of 16 win against Syria – in Iran's run to the Asian Cup semi-finals.

Iván Marcano injured his right knee during the 1-0 win at Club Foot Estrela on 15 September and was diagnosed with a damaged cruciate ligament, meaning he will be sidelined for several months.

Zaidu had to be replaced in the first half on Saturday due to a knee injury, and is also facing a lengthy absence having been diagnosed with a rupture of the cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Stephen Eustáquio was named 2023 Canadian Player of the Year on 15 December, finishing ahead of Bayern München defender Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David of LOSC Lille.

Pepe's goal against Antwerp on Matchday 4 made him the oldest scorer in UEFA Champions League history, aged 40 years 254 days – smashing the long-standing record of Francesco Totti, who was 38 years 59 days when he found the net for Roma against CSKA Moskva in November 2014. It was Pepe's first Champions League goal since November 2012, when he was 29.

The Porto defender's appearance at Antwerp on Matchday 3 had made him the oldest outfield player to feature in the Champions League, aged 40 years 241 days, surpassing the record of both Alessandro Costacurta and David Weir (40 years 111 days).

Evanilson's hat-trick at Antwerp on Matchday 3 was only Porto's second in the Champions League, after Yacine Brahimi against BATE Borisov in 2014. The Brazilian also became only the seventh player to score a hat-trick in the competition as a substitute.

Arsenal

UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Jurriën Timber
Out: Miguel Azeez, Lino Sousa, Khayon Edwards, Bradley Ibrahim, Zane Monlouis, Charles Sagoe Jr

Arsenal's record in all competitions since Matchday 6 is W6 D1 L3.

The Gunners won their first fixture after the Matchday 6 draw in Eindhoven, beating Brighton 2-0 at home, but were without a win in the next four – losing three.

However, Mikel Arteta's side have won their last five matches, all in the Premier League, scoring 21 goals and conceding only two. It is the first time in the club's history they have started a calendar year with five straight league wins.

On Saturday Arsenal won 5-0 at Burnley, Bukayo Saka scoring twice. Martin Ødegaard opened the scoring with his first goal since 2 December with Kai Havertz registering for the first time since 17 December.

Leandro Trossard got the other, the third successive match in which he had found the net and a fourth goal in his last five appearances.

Arsenal were 5-0 winners at home to Crystal Palace on 20 January. Saturday's win at Burnley was their third in this season's Premier League by that scoreline.

After victories at Nottingham Forest (2-1) and at home to league leaders Liverpool (3-1), the north London club recorded their largest win of the campaign at West Ham on 11 February, running out 6-0 victors.

That matched Arsenal's biggest margin of victory in an away league match and was their first by a six-goal margin since a 7-1 win at Aston Villa in December 1935.

Saturday's win means Arsenal have scored five or more goals in back-to-back away league matches for the first time.

Saka, who struck twice at West Ham including his 50th for the club, is Arsenal's top scorer in this season's Premier League on 12 goals.

The midfielder has been involved in goals in his last six league games, scoring seven and providing an assist.

Saka has also scored in four consecutive Premier League appearances for the first time, getting six goals in that sequence; he scored five times in his previous 19 league matches.

Arsenal's 25 set-piece goals this season, including penalties, is their most on record since 2004/05 in a single Premier League campaign. Saka's penalty at Burnley was their eighth successful spot kick in the league this season; their record is ten in 2006/07.

Arsenal have kept ten clean sheets in this season's Premier League, more than any other club.

Trossard's goal at West Ham was Arsenal's 8,000th league strike.

The Gunners bowed out of the FA Cup with a 2-0 home loss against Liverpool in the third round on 7 January.

Takehiro Tomiyasu made four appearances as Japan reached the AFC Asian Cup quarter-finals.

Mohamed Elneny got as far as the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 with Egypt, featuring in three of his side's four games.

Gabriel Jesus has been out since 30 January with a knee injury.

Thomas Partey has been out with a thigh injury since 23 October.

Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf) has missed Arsenal's last two games while Emile Smith Rowe came on on Saturday having missed the win at West Ham with an ankle issue.

Tomiyasu has not played since returning from the Asian Cup with a knock.

Jurriën Timber suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury on his first Premier League appearance, Arsenal's 2-1 home win against Nottingham Forest on the opening weekend of the season on 12 August. In January Arteta said: "At the moment he still very, very far from competing. That's the reality of it. We're hopeful that he can have an impact at the end of the season if everything goes well, and it looks like there is a chance that that might happen."

On 28 November Arteta confirmed Fabio Vieira had had groin surgery. He has not played since.