Manuel Pellegrini believes that Malaga have the capacity to upset Porto in the Champions League Last 16.
The Costa del Sol side travel out to Portugal for the first leg of their clash tonight the slight underdogs in their first campaign in UEFA’s premier competition.
However, Pellegrini has made clear that Malaga progressing to the quarter-finals is not an outlandish expectation.
“I do not think it would be a surprise. In 180 minutes a lot can happen,” asserted the Chilean to reporters in his pre-match Press conference.
“We are up against a very good team, but Malaga have shown that they can progress in the Champions League.
“That is our intention again. We are confident that the tie will be decided back in Malaga.
“I never thought we would be eliminated [earlier in the competition]. When we first qualified, we knew we wanted to be competitive and move to the next round.
“Now we are exactly the same. Porto have a great history, but we will fight for our chances. This team will not speculate.
“We are always looking to win games and we will not change our way of playing.”
Over 3,000 fans are travelling out for the game too.
“The fans always give us continuous support and the best way to repay them is to allow to continue to see Malaga in the Champions League. Our obligation is try to continue to bring them joy.”
