CSKA look to end gloomy Porto run
PFC CSKA Moskva have a miserable record against FC Porto, but as the sides meet again in the UEFA Europa League round of 16, the Army Men have reason to remember Portugal with fondness.
Previous meetings
• The clubs are meeting for a fifth time having been paired in the 2004/05 and 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage. The teams drew 0-0 twice in Porto, with Valeri Gazzaev's side losing both of their home games: 1-0 to Víctor Fernández's Porto in 2004 and 2-0 against Jesualdo Ferreira's outfit three years later.
• Thus CSKA are yet to win – or score a goal – in four games against Porto.
• The teams for their most recent meeting in Moscow, on 21 November 2006, were:
CSKA: Akinfeev*, Šemberas*, Aleksei Berezutski*, Daniel Carvalho, Vágner Love*, Krasić (Olić 66), Zhirkov, Dudu Cearense (Kochubey 27), Aldonin, Vasili Berezutski*, Rahimić*.
Porto: Helton*, Pepe, Ricardo Quaresma (Alan 88), Lucho González, Lisandro López, Bosingwa, Fucile*, Bruno Alves, Raul Meireles (Jorginho 70), Paulo Assunção, Helder Postiga (Bruno Moraes 77).
*eligible to play in this game
• CSKA enjoyed perhaps their finest night on Portuguese soil, beating Sporting Clube de Portugal 3-1 at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon to win the 2005 UEFA Cup.
Match background
• CSKA have played seven games against Portuguese sides overall, with the record W2 D3 L2 (W1 D0 L2 at home).
• Those four matches against CSKA represent all Porto's experience of Russian opposition.
• The Army Men have not lost in 12 UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League home games (ten wins and two draws) since a 2-1 loss to Olympique de Marseille in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage.
• Prior to a 1-0 loss against Sevilla FC in the second leg of their round of 32 success, Porto had won eight of their last nine European fixtures, home and away. That defeat was their first in ten continental games under coach André Villas-Boas.
• CSKA remain unbeaten after ten UEFA Europa League matches this season; two draws and eight wins. That run includes four wins and a draw on their travels.
• Porto have won all five of their away games in the UEFA Europa League this season, scoring 12 goals and conceding just three.
Team facts
• Liverpool FC won the UEFA Cup three times (in 1973, 1976 and 2001) and are thus the most successful side left in this season's competition, though PSV Eindhoven (1978), Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1988), AFC Ajax (1992), Porto (2003), CSKA (2005) and FC Zenit St Petersburg (2008) have also won it.
• This is the only round of 16 tie that features two former UEFA Cup winners.
• Falcao's seven goals for Porto since the start of the group stage make him the top scorer in the UEFA Europa League this season, with CSKA's Tomáš Necid and Villarreal CF's Giuseppe Rossi his closest rivals with six each.
• CSKA and Porto have had more shots on goal since the start of the group stage than any other side in the tournament, both having hit the target 61 times.
• In the first eight matchdays, Porto were awarded more corners than any other side in this season's UEFA Europa League; 75 going into the first leg against CSKA.