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‘He thinks He’s here to terminate my career today, not knowing that I already have plans to destroy Him, and if He doesn’t leave here injured tonight, I’m not a defender.’ Porto defender Pepe reveals the only Arsenal player he is afraid to face today.

FC Porto manager Sergio Conceicao has highlighted Arsenal’s impressive depth, with neither Leandro Trossard nor Jakub Kiwior definite starting for Mikel Arteta’s Champions League contenders.

Porto, one of Portugal’s ‘big three’ alongside Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, is used to playing the ‘Goliath’ role.

However, ahead of Tuesday’s last-16 clash with Arsenal, Conceicao’s team is cosplaying as ‘David’, with Mikel Arteta’s well-heeled visitors the hot favourites to advance to the quarter-finals at the cost of their hosts.

The Estadio do Dragao manager, speaking to Record at his pre-match news conference, was keen to emphasise the size and quality of the roster opposite number Arteta has at his disposal, with players such as Leandro Trossard and Jakub Kiwior spending a lot of time on the bench.

Arsenal meet Porto in the Champions League last-16.

“With increasingly rich squads, we are talking about the most competitive, most financially capable championship in the world (the Premier League),” the argument goes.

‘The teams are full with many solutions. Trossard has played and scored goals while Gabriel Jesus is out. Kiwior, who I believe is a starter-caliber player, does not play. (Oleksandr) Zinchenko plays. They switch goalkeepers (David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale share duties).

“There is an abundance of quality. There are several high-quality solutions.

“But we are going to fight.” This is similar to what happens in our league. We have a drastically different market worth than Arouca, who beat FC Porto earlier in February.

“But we are aware of the great difficulty we will encounter.”

Trossard, a Belgium international who would start for many Champions League clubs, has only made nine appearances in England’s top tier this season.

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