Edu has reacted to Arsenal's Champions League draw this morning, Monday (December 18).

The Gunners Sporting Director was in Switzerland for the draw at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, when Mikel Arteta's side were paired with Porto. 

The clash with the Portuguese giants will take place when knockout stages get underway in the spring of 2024.

After being drawn against Porto in the last 16 of the Champions League, Edu feels that their history in the competition makes them a very tough prospect.

Speaking after the draw, Edu said: “We are going to play against a club that is very used to playing in the competition because they play in it every single year and they have a lot of players as well with big experience.

“We have to understand how are we going to play and respect them as much as we can. We will play our game and see if we can go through this stage.

“We can see how they are playing, how organized they are, and the players that they have. Porto is a club that you have to be really prepared to play against or we’ll have problems, so what we have to concentrate on is maintaining our levels and the way we are playing.”

Arsenal finished top of Group B, netting 16 goals in six group games upon the cub's first return to European football’s top table for the first time since 2017.

When asked what the club's aims are now Arteta's side has qualified for the knock-out phase, Edu said he wanted to see Arsenal maintain the level of performances that saw the Gunners rout PSV Eindhoven 4-0, thrash Lens 6-0 and Sevilla twice during the group stages.

However, only Barcelona and Real Madrid have qualified for the competition on more occasions than Porto’s 23 times, and they are twice winners of this illustrious tournament having lifted the famous trophy in 1987 and 2004.

Which means Edu is under no illusions as to the task Arteta and his squad have been given.

“The most important thing for us is to maintain our performances and the way we are playing,” the Brazilian added. “That’s our focus, that’s where we want to be and want to keep growing, so let’s see how far we can go in the competition.

“We want to try and go as far as possible, but we are very much concentrating on playing well, performing well and playing the best football we can, and then we’ll see how far we go.”