Arsenal end Champions League last-16 curse with penalty shootout win over Porto
Arsenal 1-0 Porto (1-1 on aggregate, 4-2 on pens) (Trossard 41′)
EMIRATES STADIUM — For years the Champions League last-16 round represented an insurmountable obstacle for Arsenal. Not anymore.
Last season the Gunners exited Europe after losing a home penalty shootout against a Portuguese giant. A year on and they avoided the same fate.
When cool heads were required Arsenal’s players stood up and delivered. Martin Odegaard scored. Kai Havertz scored. David Raya saved one. Bukayo Saka scored. Declan Rice scored. And then Raya saved another. There really is no better way to win.
Mikel Arteta was still playing for Everton the last time Arsenal were in the quarter-finals of this competition. Next month he’ll attempt to mastermind their passage to the final four. Friday’s draw at Uefa HQ will determine their next opponents with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid among those lying in wait. Arsenal are back in the big time.
A 1-0 defeat in Portugal’s port city three weeks ago left Arsenal with an uphill challenge but it was one that they seemed ready to seize when Leandro Trossard levelled the tie with a clinical finish before half-time.
Odegaard had the ball in the net a second time midway through the second half but it was ruled out for a foul by Havertz, much to the frustration of Mikel Arteta and the bemusement of the Arsenal faithful.
Arteta had urged supporters to “bring your energy, bring your noise” beforehand and the fans duly obliged, turning the Emirates into a cauldron of frenzied anticipation.
They waved their flags, hoisted their scarves and raised the decibels as instructed as the visiting fans dutifully sparked up their flares. A giant Tifo of Arteta was unveiled in the Clock End alongside a simple message: Vamos!
That blip in Porto in what has been an otherwise flawless run of form was put down to inexperience, Odegaard using the lyrics from We’re Going On A Bear Hunt as inspiration for his captain’s notes saying that Arsenal were “trying to play round them rather than through them”. A direct, purposeful start followed, Saka drawing the first save of the night after 13 minutes.
Porto were more proactive than many predicted they might be, playing with the ambition of a team that knew a one-goal lead would be insufficient. Evanilson fired two warning shots in quick succession with an optimistic drive from range followed by an attempt on target that the reinstated Raya parried with urgency.
They still sought to take the sting out of the game at any opportunity, though, leading to Arteta combining his role as manager with that of ball boy. As the first half ticked on, Arteta’s tension was replicated in the stands until Trossard settled the nerves at a crucial time.
Porto left-back Wendell intercepted a hopeful ball forward but succeeded only in diverting the ball into Odegaard’s path. The skipper located Trossard, received the ball back and then refound him with a perfectly weighted pass from which the Belgian expertly bent a finish around Pepe’s silhouette into the far corner.
For five glorious seconds Odegaard thought he’d doubled Arsenal’s lead after dinking the ball into an empty net following Diogo Costa, Pepe and Havertz’s impromptu game of penalty box Twister. A chance that easy felt too good to be true and so it proved with referee Clement Turpin uncharitably ruling that Havertz had caused the collision between the Porto pair.
Arteta was incandescent, receiving a yellow card for his troubles. Within 10 minutes Porto boss Sergio Conceicao had joined him in Turpin’s notebook. Nobody was happy, everybody was stressed.
With seven minutes to go, Arteta turned to his bench for the first time on the night to summon Gabriel Jesus whose introduction had an instantly galvanising effect.
He almost scored with his first touches but Costa managed to narrow his legs in time to prevent the Brazilian’s shot from squeezing through them. Seconds later Jesus had his Gazza moment, missing the ball by a stud in front of goal as Odegaard’s shot trickled agonisingly past him after an unconvincing Costa parry from a Saka shot.
Arsenal pressed the issue in extra time as Porto, marshalled by the time-defying 41-year-old Pepe, entered frustration mode. Despite Arsenal’s possession Porto went closest in the first half through Mehdi Taremi who curled a shot wide after working a half-yard of space away from William Saliba.
Frustration started to set in, notably when Havertz pushed Conceicao as they gravitated towards one another by the dugout to spark a mini flashpoint that was quickly dampened. Besides a Saka sighter Arsenal struggled to create enough as a shootout became an inevitability. In the end, in the face of inglorious failure, Arsenal enjoyed a glorious night.
