Why Malang Sarr can play for FC Porto against Chelsea in Champions League

Malang Sarr has been named in Porto’s 25-man squad to face Chelsea on Wednesday night in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The 22-year-old joined the Portuguese side on loan for the reason after being signed from OGC Nice in the summer on a free transfer. He has made 21 appearances for Porto this season so far. 

He now comes up against his parent club in Europe and in usual domestic cases he wouldn’t be eligible to play, however he is available for selection for Porto on Wednesday in Seville.

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This is because of the European rules which doesn’t stop loanees playing against their parent clubs, and therefore he could feature against the Blues in the first leg. This was confirmed after he was included in their travelling squad.

Confirmed Porto squad: Marchesín, Cláudio Ramos e Francisco Meixedo (guarda-redes); Pepe, Diogo Leite, Loum, Luis Díaz, Matheus Uribe, Marega, Zaidu, Carraça, Marko Grujic, Tecatito Corona, Wilson Manafá, Mbemba, Romário Baró, João Mário, Otávio, Felipe Anderson, Toni Martínez, Evanilson, Nanu, Malang Sarr, Fábio Vieira and Francisco Conceição

Sarr previously told L’Equipe that his plan was to leave on loan for the 2020/21 season after joining Chelsea. 

“I was training with Chelsea before I got loaned,” he said. “The loan was part of the plan.

“I had to be honest with myself, my season ended in March and I wasn’t going to be successful right away with Chelsea.

“It was the perfect solution because I wanted to do a season at a top club like Porto, to be good and then later take a place at Chelsea.”

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