Mikel Arteta has only known frustration at Arsenal in the Champions League last 16. When he was a player at the club, he tasted defeat at this stage of the competition in five consecutive seasons – part of a wider run of seven last 16 exits from 2011 to 2017. That was then. But here, after a stressful night in Porto against a team with rather more recent experience of these kind of occasions, when the margins were so excruciatingly thin, Arteta got the same sinking feeling.
Nothing has been decided yet. It was another first-leg battle, defined by defensive tightness, the closing of spaces and perhaps even more by the feeling that neither team wanted to make a mistake; to concede.
But Arsenal did – at the bitter end to spark wild scenes at the Dragão. Gabriel Martinelli’s clearance was straight to a blue and white shirt but there appeared little danger when the ball was returned to Galeno, 25 yards out and to the left of centre. But with Declan Rice dropping off, the Porto winger stepped inside to sculpt a curler into the corner.
It was Arteta’s first Champions League knockout tie as a manager and a stark contrast to how his team had breezed through the group stage on their first return to the competition in seven seasons. His team threatened only on set pieces, with Gabriel heading wide from one when well-placed before the late sucker punch. Arsenal have it all to do.
Porto have struggled in their domestic league – they lag seven points off the title pace; it will be 10 if Sporting win their game in hand – but no other club from Portugal has reached the knockout rounds of Europe’s elite tournament this season. The Lisbon powerhouses looked on enviously.
Arsenal brought respect along with their confidence from a five-game post winter-break winning streak. What did Salt Bae put in those steaks in Dubai? It was about seizing the opportunity. That said, it was difficult to ignore the past, the context .
Seared into the club’s story are Bayern Munich (three times), Barcelona (twice), Milan and Monaco – the names of their last-16 conquerors since they beat Porto at this stage in 2010.
It was not broken for Arsenal after the hammerings of West Ham and Burnley. So it was no surprise that Arteta chose not to fix it at the outset. The interesting bit was to watch the patterns, especially the areas in which Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard moved – the former in the pocket to the left, the latter as a false nine.
It was imperative that Arsenal did nothing silly in the early running; the order of the evening was to give the crowd at this magnificent arena nothing to rally behind.
Which made Rice’s yellow card after 67 seconds a little worrying. He was never going to get there before Galeno, the quicksilver winger, and he did not, stretching in to foul him. Rice clambered up on to the tightrope.
Porto were 4-5-1 without the ball but Francisco Conçeicão – son of the manager, Sérgio – and Galeno were quick to get up the flanks in possession. Eduardo Pepe tucked in on the right of the midfield. All three were dangerous.
Porto’s idea was to break quickly – they did not need to hog the ball – and they flickered during a first half of high tension and only one real chance. What a chance it was, the stadium DJ so convinced that Galeno had scored that he pressed play on the celebration beats before quickly locating pause.
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Galeno had scuffed the first shot somewhat after a Conçeicão ball in from the right on 22 minutes, watching the effort fly off the far post but when it ricocheted back to him, albeit at considerable speed, he had to score. He lashed this shot inches past the other post. Arsenal’s defenders had seemed to freeze. How had the net not swelled?
Arsenal were patient before the interval, content to rely on corners for their threat. Very deliberately, they took an age over taking them in order for anxiety and chaos to engulf the six-yard box – physical duels, too. They could not quite profit.
The Porto goalkeeper, Diogo Costa, had claimed on Tuesday to have seen vulnerabilities in Arsenal that his team would exploit. Presumably, one of them was the space that Ben White leaves in behind when he steps high from right-back. Porto sent plenty of balls in that direction.
Arsenal’s fast first-halves have been a feature of their campaign; 12 of their 16 goals before this tie had come before half-time – no other Champions League team had scored more. This occasion was different, partly because a scoreless draw would surely have suited them at kick-off and it came to look increasingly acceptable as the minutes ticked down.
It was fraught, every player only too aware of the huge cost of a potential error. Would there be a twist? Yes, Galeno provided it.