When the Europa League round of 16 draw was made and Arsenal were paired with Sporting CP, many described the tie as the 'Hector Bellerin derby'.
Granted the idea of the Spaniard facing his former club became a possibility when Barcelona - whom he joined from the Gunners on transfer deadline last summer - dropped into the aforementioned competition after finishing third behind Bayern Munich and Internazionale in their Champions League group.
And despite being on the move once again in the January transfer window, as fate would have it, Bellerin has been pencilled in for an immediate reunion with Arsenal and this was a scenario that Mikel Arteta was eagerly anticipating ahead of last week's first-leg in Lisbon.
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"Regarding Hector: absolutely love the person, love the player; he was a really important player for our club - he left something beyond just his career but as a person in our football club," the Gunners manager said in the pre-match press conference. "It will be great to see him tomorrow. And I’m sure the boys and the staff are going to be really happy to see him again."
Unfortunately, Bellerin was denied the chance to start against his ex-teammates after suffering a knee injury during a training session last Wednesday and having missed Sporting CP's 3-0 win over Boavista at the weekend, it remains to be seen if he recovers in time for the trip to the Emirates Stadium.
With regard to Sporting CP team news ahead of Thursday night's decider in N5, it has already been confirmed that captain Sebastian Coates and Hidemasa Morita - who scored the own goal that allowed Arsenal to equalise in the second half - will be unavailable through suspension.
Nevertheless, Manuel Ugarte is in contention to return after serving his one-game ban last week and Sporting CP head coach Ruben Amorim has made it clear that his side will "try everything" in the second leg to reach the Europa League quarter-final at the Gunners' expense.
"Before the game, all Sportinguistas would have taken this result. But looking at what happened, it's hard to accept and nobody can be satisfied," he said. "We didn't manage to score a goal and in key moments we suffered, first from a dead ball and then off a rebound. Still, we had a very competent game. We should have scored one or two more goals, but it's good that there's a bittersweet feeling because we're here to win and not just to take part.
"We are going to London with the aim of going through. We know that Arsenal will have their crowd there, but if we were a goal or two ahead it would be completely different. We're going to play our game and try to make the opposition nervous, because we have the ability to have the ball.
"We know we're going to suffer a lot and if we have to defend with everyone in front of the goal, then that's what we'll do. We strongly believe that we can go through."
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