Following the weekend’s league fixtures, it’s now time for the Portuguese media to switch back to the coverage for the Champions League and bring their stories about the quarter-final between Chelsea and Porto.
The Blues beat the Dragons 2-0 in the first leg last week, and now play the decisive tie in Seville tomorrow night.
Portuguese newspaper Record managed to sit down for an interview with Chelsea defender Thiago Silva ahead of the clash, who insists the Stamford Bridge side will need to play well to guarantee a place in the semi-final.
The 36-year-old claimed the Blues can’t rely to the previous result and must put in a good performance to get the qualification against Porto.
“The first step is not to manage, if necessary to use the advantage. At this level, nothing is definitive. We have to understand the course of the game and play intelligently,” Thiago Silva told Record.
“No team reaches this stage of the Champions by chance. We knew that they would be a great opponent, very well trained, with a lot of tradition and we prepared for that.”
“It would be better to play at our stadium, but we understand the difficulties. In practice, I don’t see much difference from one match to the next. It’s basically a neutral field. What can change is the behaviour of the teams. We have to be focused.”
Regarding the first match, whose result was called unfair by the Portuguese media, Thiago Silva claimed Chelsea deserved the win.
“Everyone works hard to talk about luck. You have to analyse the types of finishing moves that took place, because the team with the most shots is not always the one with the best goal chances. FC Porto were dangerous and had good opportunities, we had better use and managed to build the result.”
The player also talked about the praises he had from Porto defender Pepe in recent interviews.
“Pepe is an athlete who has built a very beautiful, very successful career. Any compliment that comes from him is worth double, because he’s a differentiated professional.”
Following the absence of Sérgio Oliveira in the first match due to suspension, Silva now waits for the player in the decisive star, claiming “he’ll have an impact at the level of leadership” and will “move the teammates”.
