Team
news, stats, kick-off time ahead of the Champions League quarter-final first
leg between Porto and Chelsea on Wednesday.
Team news
Chelsea will have Christian Pulisic and N'Golo Kante fit after hamstring
issues for Wednesday's first-leg last-eight clash with Porto.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed Tammy Abraham will also be in the squad, though
Kante is unlikely to start after his latest muscle complaint.
Porto will take on Chelsea without their suspended two top goalscorers,
Sergio Oliveira and Mehdi Taremi, for Wednesday's match in Seville.
Tuchel: Rudiger-Kepa bust-up over
Chelsea boss Tuchel confirmed Germany defender Rudiger and Spain goalkeeper
Kepa clashed in training - but insisted that the players have solved the
spat and the matter is finished.
"It was nothing to do with the defeat [to West Brom], it was just an
incident in training; it got heated up between Toni and Kepa," said Tuchel.
"So we calmed the situation down immediately.
"I don't want to play it down with anything artificial, these are things we
don't want to accept; it was unusual but they can happen. They are all
competitors and want to win training matches.
"We needed to interfere in the situation, so that was serious. But the way
the guys handled the situation, that was impressive and showed a lot of
courage.
"The reaction was not okay, but the reaction to it, how the guys handled the
situation, especially Toni and Kepa, was amazing and showed how much respect
they have for each other. They cleared the air immediately."
Conceicao wary of wounded Chelsea
Porto boss Sergio Conceicao fears Chelsea's 5-2 loss to West Brom will have
the Blues "more awake to danger" in Wednesday's Champions League
quarter-final first leg.
Conceicao has warned his Porto players to be wary of the wounded Blues, who
succumbed to a first loss under new manager Thomas Tuchel in the Premier
League on Saturday.
"You know that Thiago Silva was sent off in the first half and that the game
had a different course," said Conceicao.
"Chelsea until this last game had been extremely competent, they have not
lost a game in the Champions League, they have the second-best defence in
the Champions League and also in the English League. They are a competent
team, and when these defeats happen it serves as a warning.
"If you want my opinion, I would prefer that they won the last game. Because
these situations make the siren sound and make everyone more alert, more
awake to danger, and I honestly don't like these defeats very much."
Opta stats
FC Porto have lost five of their eight UEFA Champions League games against
Chelsea (W2 D1), only losing more against Real Madrid in the competition
(6).
Chelsea have won 75 per cent of their UEFA Champions League matches against
Portuguese opponents (W9 D1 L2), only winning more games against Spanish
teams (13) than against those representing Portugal.
This will be only the second knockout tie between Chelsea and Porto in the
UEFA Champions League, with the Blues progressing 3-2 on aggregate during
the last 16 of the 2006-07 edition.
Since winning the UEFA Champions League in 2003-04, FC Porto have only won
one of their six games in the competition at the quarter-final stage (D1
L4). Their last such victory came against Bayern Munich in April 2015,
however, they were later eliminated 7-4 on aggregate.
Following victories in both legs against Atlético Madrid in the Round of 16,
Thomas Tuchel could become just the second Chelsea manager to win his first
three games in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. The
previous manager to do this was Roberto Di Matteo in 2011-12, the last time
Chelsea won the competition.
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