A day after Viktor Gyokeres joined Arsenal from Sporting in July 2025, the Portuguese giants signed Luis Suarez for a reported fee of around £21.8 million from Almeria.
Colombia international Suarez top-scored in the second division for his former club last season and is the leading marksman in the top flight in 2025/26, contributing 24 goals and five assists in 25 games in the division as well as netting five times and setting up two goals in 10 games in the Champions League.
“We are so confident that we are not afraid of anything,” the 28-year-old told UEFA, via Abola. “We respect all our opponents but we are not afraid of any of them.
“I believe that for any player to come to Sporting and occupy a place that was Viktor’s is a great challenge.
“It’s the most exciting challenge of my career. I’ve faced it in the best way possible with the greatest ambition and I believe I’m living up to it.”
Second-placed Sporting are five points behind Porto in the Primeira Liga with a game more to play, while Arsenal are nine points above Manchester City in the Premier League but suffered arguably the worst result of their season on Saturday.
Gyokeres equalised before Southampton scored five minutes from time to give the second-tier side a 2-1 home win over the Gunners in the FA Cup quarter-finals, ending head coach Mikel Arteta’s ambitions of a treble.
“Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror, accept the situation and go to Portugal with clarity and look forward to it,” said Arteta, telling his players to “stand up, make yourself accountable and deliver like we’ve been doing all season”.
“This is the first moment that we have [faced] with a certain level of difficulty. We say difficulty when we’re going into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.”
The winners of the tie will advance to a two-legged semi-final against Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, who meet in the first leg of their quarter-final at Camp Nou on Wednesday (20:00 BST).
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Sporting v Arsenal team news
Full-back Piero Hincapie (hamstring), midfielder Mikel Merino (foot) and forward Eberechi Eze (calf) are out injured for Arsenal.
Gabriel is a doubt with a possible left-knee injury that forced the centre-back to be replaced against Southampton, as is forward Leandro Trossard with a hip issue.
Midfielders Christian Norgaard and Martin Zubimendi must avoid bookings to be eligible for the second leg.
Suarez returns from suspension for Sporting but winger Geovany Quenda, who will join Chelsea next season for £40 million, is recovering from a metatarsal injury.
Head coach Rui Borges expects right-back Ivan Fresneda to return from illness after missing Friday’s 4-2 home win over Santa Clara.
Wideman Maxi Araujo could also be in contention to start, having come on as a substitute in that game, as could centre-back Goncalo Inacio, who was given a rest as an unused replacement after spending the international break with Portugal.
Winger Pedro Goncalves has been building his fitness and was replaced at half-time with his team 3-1 ahead against Santa Clara.
“We were hoping he’d had some minutes with the national team [Portugal] to gain confidence and improve his physical condition, but considering everything that’s expected of him this month, we thought it was ideal that he only played 45 minutes,” said Borges.
“He played a good 45 minutes. We had the game somewhat under control, I felt the team was doing well, and we opted to manage the situation.”
Midfielder Morten Hjulmand is banned and Suarez will be out of the return match if he is booked.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: 101greatgoals.com
