Ricardo Quaresma has volunteered to be the Matías Delgado of today's match. Remember Delgado the Beşiktaş midfielder who proclaimed prior to the 8-0 thrashing his club suffered at the hands of our boys that 'This Liverpool side is vulnerable and not the super team of previous seasons'? Yeah, wasn't so smart, well, Ricardo Quaresma has one-upped the Argentine by declaring that he wants to make us fans cry. His exact words were 'They will weep with despair.' If our boys needed any more motivation, well, there you go. I hope Mascherano personally humbles 'the Q' himself.
Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira just wants his side to remain focused. Though it would appear that all the current turmoil involving Rafa and the owners would be more of a distraction for our side than his, Ferreira doesn't want his players thinking that we won't be at the top of our game because of it. He needs not look further than Barça in our tie with the Spanish club at Camp Nou last year as proof that controversy sometimes helps a side play better. After all, football is merely just a distraction in itself.
Dragões captain, Lucho González, feels all the pressure is on our side and along with Porto's carefree attitude, could be the right ingredients for an upset. He may be right, but he fails to take in consideration that our club tends to thrive on pressure. Porto also needs to remember that despite a woeful performance from our side when we played them at Estádio do Dragão, they still required a penalty to get the draw. We had one attempt, mind you not just one shot-on, that entire match, and failed to earn a single corner as well.
Dirk Kuyt has nominated himself to be the voice of the rallying cry this time. Talk is cheap, boys, just get it done.
In other news, former Academy product and brief first-team midfielder, David Thompson, has decided to throw in the towel on his career due to knee injury. The 30-year-old played in 56 total matches for our side between 1996 and 2000, tallying five goals.
Finally, it appears the knee injury that forced Paul Anderson off the pitch yesterday is being assessed as not serious and only 'badly bruised.' The on-loan at Swansea winger is very doubtful for his club's FA Cup venture to Horsham on Friday night, but will most likely be back next Tuesday to face Northampton in League One action. I'll be back later with the starting line-up against Porto. Cheers.
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