Chelsea hopped on a plane and headed for Spain on Tuesday as it gets set to square off against Porto in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Both clubs got to this stage by defeating European giants in the Round of 16. The Blues dominated La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid over two legs and Porto slayed Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus in this tournament’s biggest upset victory up to this point. This has set up one of the more exciting—yet, less anticipated—matchups of the round.
If you thought Atletico Madrid was stubborn, wait until you see the Dragoes. Sergio Conceicao is happy to set his side up to absorb pressure and annoy his opponents. Porto thrives on doing the little things right, looking to pounce on any mistake by its foes. The Portuguese side isn’t flashy or dominant, but it is effective. On the other hand, the Blues under Thomas Tuchel play a very possession-based, gegenpressing style. The one blip on the Blues’ resume is the fact they don’t have any consistent goalscorers in the side. This will make for one of the UCL’s more interesting tactical battles, although most neutrals will be tuned into Bayern Munich versus Paris Saint-Germain, which kicks off at the same time.
Porto is unbeaten in almost a month. The Dragoes’ last loss came at the hands of Juventus, but as we know now, the Italian side’s victory was not enough to win the tie on aggregate. You have to go back to March 3 to find their last defeat before that. Meanwhile, Chelsea is coming off the season’s most embarrassing result to date, a 5-2 loss at home to relegation-struggling West Bromwich Albion. The Blues looked a shell of their pre-international break selves when they were defeated for the first time during the Tuchel era. Chelsea’s response is one of the biggest storylines of the match and for good reason.
The Blues were overwhelming favorites to advance in the eyes of football fans during the international break. Whether it be key injuries to Chelsea or the weekend’s poor result, you can feel the uncertainty beginning to mount now. It’s set to be an exciting contest between two of Europe’s historic giants with the eyes of the world upon them.
Where can you view the live stream of Chelsea at Porto?
Date: Wednesday, April 7
Time: 3:00 p.m. ET (21:00 p.m. GMT)
Location: Seville, Spain
Venue: Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan
Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
TV Info: Paramount+ (USA), BT Sport (UK)
Live Stream: Paramount+
Despite the entire tie being played in Seville, this match is the away leg for the Blues. Chelsea needs to come out of the gate firing on all cylinders in order to grab an important away goal or two. If Tuchel’s side is able to earn a positive result in the first installment of this series, it will bode well for the return leg next week. Could the Blues be headed to a place in Europe where they haven’t been for almost a decade? Wednesday could swing the pendulum in the direction of a favorable answer—but only time will truly tell.
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