Overview
After a convincing 4-1 victory in the first leg at Glasgow, Stuttgart almost put one foot in the Europa League round of 16. The 0-1 defeat in the second leg against Celtic did not affect Die Roten's ticket to the next round, as they still won overall.
The only minus point of the second leg is Stuttgart's failure to score - for the first time this has happened in the last 11 matches in all competitions.
Previously, coach Sebastian Hoeness's team had an impressive streak of 7 wins, 2 draws and only 2 defeats. This streak also included a victory over Young Boys in the last round of the group stage, helping Stuttgart finish in 11th place in the 36-team standings.
This is only the second time in this century that Stuttgart has reached the round of 16 of a European tournament, after reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in the 1988-1989 season. The German team will continue their journey to find their first continental title when facing Porto, and they have reason to be confident thanks to their impressive home performance at MHPArena.
Since the beginning of the year, they have won 5 out of 7 home matches in all competitions (1 draw, 1 loss), including 4 matches scoring at least 3 goals. However, Stuttgart still needs to improve the solidity of their defense, as they have not kept a clean sheet in all 5 recent European matches.
In the domestic arena, Stuttgart is also experiencing a period of instability when they have not won 3/4 of the recent matches (2 draws, 1 loss). The 2-2 draw at Mainz last weekend put the Swabia team in fourth place in the Bundesliga table, only ahead of Leipzig in fifth place thanks to goal difference.
Meanwhile, Porto entered the match after a 2-2 draw with Benfica last weekend. Coach Francesco Farioli's team took a 2-goal lead thanks to goals from Victor Froholdt and Oskar Pietuszewski, but let the opponent equalize after halftime.
However, Dragons are still leading Primeira Liga with a 4-point gap from the chasing team. However, Porto's away form is a worrying issue. Before the draw with Benfica, they also lost 0-1 to Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the Portuguese National Cup semi-finals.
More broadly, Porto has only won 1 in their last 5 away matches in all competitions (2 draws, 2 losses). In the Europa League, they have also not won in their last three away matches (2 draws, 1 loss).
However, Porto still finished the group stage in fifth place after a 3-1 victory over Rangers in the last match. This result helps them improve their performance compared to last season, when they were eliminated by Roma in the play-offs. Now, the Portuguese team aims to reach the Europa League quarter-finals for the second time since winning the championship in the 2010-2011 season.
Expected lineup:
Nubel, Assignon, Jeltsch, Chabot, Mittelstadt, Karazor, Stiller, El Khannouss, Undav, Leweling, Demirovic.
D. Costa, A. Costa, Bednarek, Kiwior, Zaidu, Froholdt, Varela, Veiga, Pepe, Gul, Gomes.
The match between Stuttgart and Porto takes place at 0:45 AM on March 13 (Vietnam time).
