FC Porto vs CSKA Sofia preview
Posted Wednesday, December 15, 2010 by ESPN
Porto aim to finish on a high
Porto coach Andre Villas-Boas wants the Portuguese side to finish their successful Europa League group campaign on a winning note.
Porto are already guaranteed top spot in Group L ahead of Wednesday's clash with Bulgarians CSKA Sofia, who cannot qualify for the knockout stages.
Villas-Boas has made three changes to his squad, with Jorge Fucile and Souza returning while young goalkeeper Tiago Maia is also included. Pawel Kieszek, Cristian Sapunaru and Emidio Rafael are the trio left out.
"We will continue to manage the squad,'' said Villas-Boas.
"We have a competitive squad and they all have their chance. Our goal is to win, despite the fact we have already qualified.''
Porto's main man in the Europa League has been striker Falcao, whose seven goals in the group stage have put him top of the scoring charts.
The Colombian scored the only goal when the teams met in Bulgaria earlier this season, a defeat that helped to seal CSKA's fate.
In charge of the visitors for the third European game will be Milen Radukanov, who was made caretaker boss following the departure of Macedonian Gjorgi Jovanovski in October.
The 37-year-old former CSKA defender is the club's eighth coach this year.
Villas-Boas, meanwhile, has repeated his criticism of the rule that sees teams eliminated from the Champions League enter the Europa League at the start of the knockout stage.
He added: "It's almost a second life for some teams. It does not seem fair. They can reach the Europe League with one or three points in the Champions League.''
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