Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video
Arsenal are through the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a penalty shoot-out win over Porto last night.
Let me say, first and foremost, what a horrible team Porto are to play against. On the one hand, credit where it’s due: over the course of two legs they worked very hard to negate our strengths, and last night they made life very difficult for us. They made us play the game the way they wanted it to be played, and that’s not easy to do – especially with the form we’re in at the moment.
On the other though, I’m very glad to see the back of a team whose players fall over a lot, and whose dark-arts have been enabled by the officials in both legs. I get it, this is what European competition can bring, it’s all about winning at the end of the day, and this was the way Porto and their crotchety manager chose to go about it. However, it’s not much fun.
90 minutes in Portugal plus 120 minutes last night, I’ve had my fill of Porto. From the start they wasted time, as is their right, but you expect the officials to notice. 1 minute of added time at the end of the first half? What? As for last night’s referee, I’ll admit he made some odd decisions that both teams might have find fault with, but far more of them were made in Porto’s favour than ours. Honestly, I wondered if this guy had a different rule-book or something. It felt demented at times.
Then again, that might have been the occasion, the pressure, the nerves, the way this game – this entire tie – has been played on a knife-edge. Their late goal in the first game meant we had to score last night, and after 40 minutes of the first half I was already thinking about what we might do to change it at the break. Porto had frustrated us, both sides had some half-chances but not much more, and the game suited them down to the ground.
At this point, Martin Odegaard dug deep into his creative reserves to help us find a goal. The thing about the Arsenal captain is that he combines that craft with a workrate that is second to none, and he was on his toes to nick the ball high up the pitch. He traded passes with Leandro Trossard, stepped inside one Porto man, and threaded the most perfect pass back to the Belgian. The touch and finish were both excellent, but the weight and precision of his ball behind called for nothing less. Trossard delivered what Odegaard’s skill demanded, and it was 1-0.
The timing of the goal is something to consider too. On a night when the crowd were superb, you could sense the frustration just seeping in. Understandably too. When you’re not being allowed play the way you want, it gets worrying, so to go ahead just before the break to ease the nerves for the second period was really important.
As the game went on, the referee became more unpredictable. Sometimes a foul was a foul, lots of times it wasn’t, then something less than the initial foul that wasn’t a foul was a free kick. My head was spinning. Arsenal had the ball in the net again, Odegaard chipping home from outside the box after Pepe and their keeper had made a mess of a ball over the top, but it was ruled out for a Havertz foul on the veteran defender. It’s one of those where I think he makes the mistake anyway, but when you a pull a shirt it’s always going to get you off the hook. If it happened up the other end, we’d be screaming blue murder if the goal had stood.
Raya made a save, Kiwior defended well, Jesus came on and almost scored with his first touch, the underside of Diogo Costa’s thigh preventing his shot from going in. Saka forced a save, Odegaard chopped the rebound just wide. It felt like we were most likely to score, but it was hard not to think of some relatively recent European games where we’ve been done with a smash and grab right at the death.
Extra time came. Porto made five subs to Arsenal’s one. Fresh legs can be important. There were hints of fatigue from some our lads. Havertz pushed Sergio Conceicao, and my affection for him grew. I’m surprised the Porto manager didn’t call for a stretcher or the smelling salts, but he was saving his bacon for post-game accusations about Mikel Arteta, I suppose. We put on Zinchenko and Nketiah, whether that was with half an eye on penalties or to introduce something different, it’s hard to know.
Then the shoot-out. All the chat about how this is a lottery has always annoyed me. These things are a test of character and technique, for both takers and goalkeepers. Odegaard slotted his home in front of our fans, before Small Pepe made it 1-1. Havertz was cool for 2-1, Raya got a hand to Wendell’s effort to keep it out with his first save. Saka, who by his standards struggled to make an impact in both legs, did the business for 3-1. The Arsenal keeper almost kept Grujic’s penalty out, but Declan Rice made no mistake for 4-2. It meant Galeno, the player who had daggered our hearts at the end of the first leg, had to score, but Raya pulled off an excellent stop and Arsenal were through.
I need to watch the post-game stuff again, but obviously there were celebrations. Then it appeared some aggro went down, almost as if a team that spent both games with a cynical approach to the tie ended up being sore losers. Imagine. Big Gabi looked like he wanted to fight them all, Zinchenko seemed to stop it which is probably for the best, but there’s always a little part of you that would love to see it kick off a bit.
Ultimately though, we produced what we needed to in the shoot-out, Porto couldn’t hold their nerve, and we go through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time in 14 years. Make no mistake, however we got through, it was hugely important for this team and this manager to make at least this level of progress in this competition. It puts to bed a few questions marks, and shows that we are learning. Obviously there are better teams in the Champions League than Porto, but I wonder if we’ll face another side who will be quite as difficult to play against. This was so tough, all jokes aside, and quite different from even the most tricky Premier League games. It might not have been a lot of fun, but it was good experience.
Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was delighted, as you’d imagine, saying:
Magic, what we expected, a really tough opponent, really well organised, very difficult to generate constant momentum in the game in the way they play and that’s credit to them. We did it, we scored a beautiful goal, they insisted in different ways, in the way the game allowed as well, and it’s such a huge experience for us.
And praised the atmosphere and the fans:
When they have to do that extra at the end with the penalties, apart from bringing that, they were so smart in the way they did it, and the way they helped us. A huge thank you because with them we are much better and I think today they have impacted the game in a really strong way.
There were great scenes at the end. Raya and Ramsdale’s embrace in particular, and as for Conceicao’s accusations that Arteta insulted his family in Spanish, this guy has a track record of this kind of distraction, and he can bog off back to Porto with his football tail between his legs. He provided Arsenal with a genuine challenge, he lost. Off you trot, take that nutcase ref with you, and I hope Ryanair lose your luggage.
I’m sure there’s even more to say, and more to talk about, but I’m nearly 1500 words in this morning, and I’ve gotta stop somewhere. So, please join us a bit later on for an extra Arsecast Extra – we should have that for you mid-morning or thereabouts. Arsenal now have 19 days off, albeit with an Interlull in the middle, and it’ll be all eyes on Friday’s draw to see who we have in the quarters. Going into this break without having to pore over another European exit will make all our lives much more pleasant.
Till tomorrow!
