Sevilla vs FC Porto preview

April 9, 2014
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

Sevilla vs PortoHigh-flying Sevilla hope they can produce a comeback and make it to the Europa League semi-finals by outscoring Porto in the second leg.

The Dragons hold a 1-0 lead from the first match, but they will have to work hard in order to secure their place in the next stage.

Sevilla have been exceeding expectations throughout the season and everybody at the club is delighted the team still have a lot to play for.

Los Rojiblancos have seriously improved their league position of late and with six games to go they sit six points behind the final Champions League berth.

The weekend’s 4-1 triumph over very good Espanyol side saw them return to the right track, and given the not so difficult fixture list, Unai Emery’s charges still have a lot to hope for.

Meanwhile, Sevilla did lose to Porto in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-final tie, but los Rojiblancos are confident they can overturn a one-goal deficit at their Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

And having won five of last six matches on home soil, Unai Emery’s side are 1.92 (23/25) to win the return leg and 2.75 (7/4) to qualify.

The mere fact Unai Emery rested the likes of Rakitic, Coke, Reyes and Marin at the weekend is enough to suggest he is set to field the strongest possible line-up against Porto.

Daniel Carrico remains a major doubt with an ankle problem, while Sebastian Cristoforo and Denis Cheryshev are definitely out and Alberto Moreno is suspended.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Beto – Coke, Pareja, Fazio, Navarro – M’Bia, Iborra – Reyes, Rakitic, Marin – Bacca.

FC Porto’s long domestic dominance appears to be coming to an end as the Dragons are set for a third-place finish in the league, but they have been pretty impressive in other competitions.

The Portuguese giants have made it to the semi-finals of both domestic cups, and already hold a 1-0 lead over Benfica in Taca de Portugal from the first leg.

And while they failed to progress from the Champions League group stages, the Dragons have been exceeding expectations in Europa League.

After eliminating Eintracht Frankfurt and Napoli, Porto recorded a 1-0 triumph over Sevilla in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, but the win came at a cost.

Namely, both Jackson Martinez and Fernando are banned for the second leg, but the good news is Maicon has recovered from injury.

Ladbrokes seem to believe Porto are hot favourites to make it to the semi-finals seeing as how they are paying 1.50 (1/2) on the Dragons to qualify.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Fabiano – Danilo, Maicon, Mangala, Alex Sandro – Defour, Herrera, Carlos Eduardo – Varela, Ghilas, Quaresma.

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