{"id":9212,"date":"2024-02-20T15:54:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T15:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9212"},"modified":"2024-02-22T05:53:31","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T05:53:31","slug":"hic-sunt-dracones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=9212","title":{"rendered":"Hic sunt dracones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image from stadiumdb.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And so into the Dragons’ den. The time: Wednesday evening. The occasion: the Champions League Round of 16 first leg against FC Porto. The location: a sold-out Est\u00e1dio do Drag\u00e3o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 50-000 seater stadium, the third largest in Portugal, was built for the 2004 Euros. Porto moved in the year before, travelling a few hundred metres down the street from the Est\u00e1dio das Antas, where it had played since 1952. A 16-year-old Lionel Messi made his Barcelona debut in a friendly that christened the new digs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stadium takes its name from our hosts’ nickname, the Drag\u00f5es, which, in turn, comes from the dragon in their crest, which in turn comes from its home city’s coat of arms at the time the club’s crest was redesigned in 1922 by one of its players, a graphic artist with the pen name Simplicio. He combined the club’s original crest, a blue ball, with elements of the coats of arms of the city and the royal family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dragons have been associated with Porto ever since St George became Portugual’s patron saint in the 14th century (Anglo-Portuguese alliance, King Jo\u00e3o I marries John of Gaunt’s daughter, Philippa, and all that) but particularly since the 1832-33 civil war between King Pedro IV of Portugal and I of Brazil and his brother Miguel. Think Harry and William but with armies and a serious point: constitutional vs absolute monarchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In return for Portuenses helping Pedro prevail against the odds in a year-long siege, their city was granted the title Invicta (‘unconquered’). Porto incorporated this honour into its crest along with a black, fire-breathing dragon sitting in a crown. After he died, Pedro was buried in Lisbon but left his heart in Porto. It is in a crystal and gold vase near the main altar in the Church of Our Lady of Lapa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ribbon and dragon were removed from the city’s crest in 1940 during the Salazar dictatorship, but not from the football team’s. Simplico had turned the dragon dark green (it has lightened and brightened over the years) because green and white were the city’s colours. However, when the team initially decided on its shirts, it opted for the blue and white of the royal family. The country\u2019s now distinctive red and green became the national colours only after the ill-fated Republican Revolution of 1910.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The football club had been founded 17 years earlier by Ant\u00f3nio Nicolau d’Almeida, a 20-year-old Oporto port merchant enamoured by the game during a trip to England. As affairs of business diverted his attention, the club stagnated until 1907, when it was revived, playing in local competitions and regional championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Portugal organised a national league in 1934-35, FC Porto was its first champion. As one of the country’s ‘Big Three’ with the Lisbon clubs, Benfica and Sporting, it has gone on to create a storied history: 84 trophies, including 30 league titles, with an unmatched five in a row from 1995 to 1999, 19 domestic cups, two European Cups and two Europa League titles. The only blemish on this fine history is to have given a young Jose Mourinho his first big managerial break. Under the former translator of another of the club’s managers, Bobby Robson, Porto became the first Portuguese side to win a treble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also holds the Arsenal Cup, reputedly the world’s tallest sporting trophy at 3 metres, struck after Porto beat us 3-2 in a friendly played at the Est\u00e1dio do Lima in May 1948. As the reigning Football League champions, we were considered ‘the best team in the world’ at the time, and Porto’s victory was all the sweeter as we had put archrivals Benfica to the sword 4-0 earlier in the tour. The imposing trophy is the centrepiece of the club’s museum in the Est\u00e1dio do Dragao.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have played Porto competitively six times since: CL group games in 2006 and 2008 and a Round of 16 tie in 2010 that we won on aggregate. That was the last time we advanced beyond this stage in the CL. The record stands at three wins \u2014 all at the Emirates \u2014 and two losses and a draw in the Est\u00e1dio do Drag\u00e3o, where we have scored only once (not counting a Lukasz Fabia\u0144ski own goal in 2010).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Porto is managed by Sergio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, a former right-winger for the club who spent half his nomadic playing career in Italy and scored a hat-trick for Portugal against Germany in Euro 2000. Since taking over in 2017, the 49-year-old has won three league titles, three domestic cups and a league cup. He has also taken his team into the knockout rounds of the CL three times in the past four seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Porto currently sits third in the league seven points adrift of joint leaders Benfica and Sporting. A low-key 2-0 win over relegation-flirting Estrela at the weekend got it back to winning after a draw and a loss in its previous two games. It was the better side in both but failed to take its chances (sound familiar?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concei\u00e7\u00e3o favours a possession-based 4-4-2 but has switched to 4-2-3-1 of late and will likely stick with that against Arteta’s 4-3-3. In either formation, the young Argentine Alan Varela, a rumoured Liverpool target, plays as the double pivot alongside either the equally young Nico Gonz\u00e1lez, a lanky Spaniard who came up through Barca’s youth teams before joining Porto last summer, or the Canada international Stephen Eust\u00e1quio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their job will be to deny Havertz and \u00d8degaard space between the lines and to shield a likely back four of (if fit) Wendell, an experienced Brazilian left-back with an eye for goal (he is joint second-leading scorer this season with three), Portugal international right-back Jo\u00e3o M\u00e1rio, the young but highly rated Brazilian centre-back, Otavio, signed from Famalic\u00e3o in January and who made his Porto debut at the weekend, and Pepe, the Brazilian-born club captain who has 134 Portugal caps and turns 41 next week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe played against us in 2006 before moving to Real Madrid the following season. There, he won three CL titles among 16 trophies. He has won as many with Porto and two with his adopted country. Pepe brings some (very hardened) steel and experience to the heart of the defence. Assuming he plays, he will extend his record as the oldest player to appear in a CL game, and if, heaven forfend, he scores, extend that age record, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swiss-born but Porto-raised Diogo Costa, Portugal’s first-choice keeper, will be between the sticks. It is a tight defence: 16 goals conceded in 22 league games. It has been more porous in the CL, giving up eight goals in the six group games, although its xGA was 6.3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having unloaded last season’s player of the year, 29-year-old midfielder Ot\u00e1vio, on Al-Nassr for a rich 60 million euros, Porto’s attacking creativity comes from Pep\u00ea, a Brazilian winger-turned-No 10 who has one cap for his country, his compatriot, Galeno, who had more goals and assists combined than anyone in the group stage, and the manager’s son, Francisco Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, who is on loan from Ajax (Sergio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o has four sons who are all professional footballers). Another couple of promising young attacking midfielders, the Spaniard Iv\u00e1n Jaime, another recruit from Famalic\u00e3o, and the homegrown Gon\u00e7alo Borges, will likely get some minutes from the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another Brazilian, Evanilson, will provide the firepower up front, with Iranian international Mehdi Taremi, who is off to Inter in the summer, off games. Evanilson is their leading goal-scorer this season with nine, plus three assists. No one, including Haarland, Morata or Greiznmann, had a better goals-per-90-minutes stat in the group stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zinchenko and Jesus start in what I believe to be Arteta’s preferred CL team. Neither will be fit enough to play in Porto. Thus:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White – Saliba – Gabriel – Kiwior<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard – Rice – Havertz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka – Trossard – Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Partey and Fabio Vieira have reportedly travelled to Portugal, but not Tomi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hic sunt dracones is a euphemism for unknown or dangerous territory. Porto represents that. There are no pushover opponents in the CL Round 16. Diogo Costa said ahead of the match that they had identified our weaknesses and would go all out to exploit them and win. Yet, if we are to have the deep run in the tournament that I feel we shall, the Drag\u00f5es will have at least to be kept at bay in their den and then slayed in N5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so into the Dragons’ den. The time: Wednesday evening. The occasion: the Champions League Round of 16 first leg against FC Porto. The location: a sold-out Est\u00e1dio do Drag\u00e3o. The 50-000 seater stadium, the third largest in Portugal, was built for the 2004 Euros. Porto moved in the year before, travelling a few hundred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9212"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9218,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9212\/revisions\/9218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}