Arsenal suffered a deflating defeat in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie away to Porto when they were beaten by a fine Galeno goal in the 94th minute.
Mikel Arteta’s side endured a tricky start when Declan Rice was booked after 73 seconds and Porto supporters could barely believe their team had not gone ahead when Galeno struck a post and then hit the rebound wide from close range midway through the first-half.
Arsenal had not played in the round of 16 since 2017, when they exited the competition at that stage for the seventh year in a row and while there is still a long way to go they will have been stung by Galeno’s fine curling strike that won it in stoppage time.
In a game of few chances — and no Arsenal shots on target — it proved a decisive moment.
Here Art de Roche and Mark Carey analyse the match.
How damaging was this result for Arsenal?
Losing 1-0 is not a terrible result, but it gives Arsenal work to do. Frustration will come from a somewhat passive performance over the 90 minutes meaning their margin for error was absolutely minimal.
The result means that Arsenal have failed to win on all four occasions they have played away to Porto. Beyond that, they have won just once in Portugal. Unable to see out a draw to take back to north London will also raise questions over the squad’s presence in Europe, with Arteta’s record in the Europa League knockout stages not strong before qualifying for the Champions League this term.
This is not the end of Arsenal, however. For context, they faced Porto six times in the Champions League before tonight. They had lost two and drawn once at the Estadio do Dragao but won all three at the Emirates.
Their results in this year’s group stages also took a similar trend. They won one, drew one and lost one, scoring four times away from home against Sevilla, PSV and Lens. Conversely, they beat all three in north London, scoring 12 goals and conceding none.
They will also take encouragement from having three more weeks for players such as Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira and Takehiro Tomiyasu to get match fit.
Art de Roche
Why didn’t they have a shot on target?
If there were any Arsenal fans who thought that Porto might be an easy opponent to face in the last 16, you only had to watch their warm-up to see how organised Sergio Conceicao’s side are.
Veteran captain Pepe was leading the drill as Porto practiced their defensive line from set pieces — with synchronisation and choreography that a street dance group would be proud of.
Porto showed the same discipline across the whole game, keeping their structure throughout and rotating between a 4-4-2 and 4-5-1 out of possession. While Arsenal had the lion’s share of possession, it was largely in front of Porto — being forced to go around their compact defensive unit but rarely through it.
With a centre-back pairing of a 40-year-old Pepe and a 21-year-old Otavio — making his first appearance in the Champions League since joining in January — Porto were always unlikely to press Arsenal high. Their mid-block was disciplined and very rarely allowed any space in behind for Mikel Arteta’s pacey forwards to exploit.
In truth, it has been the trend of Porto’s domestic season in Portugal. While their 1.7 goals per 90 is good enough for the fourth-best in the league, their defensive record is more impressive with only Benfica averaging fewer than Porto’s 0.7 goals conceded per 90.
It was a strong first-leg performance from Porto, built on solid defensive foundations. When your opponent does not register a shot on target across the entire game, you know things have gone rather well.
Mark Carey
Did Arsenal play like Arsenal?
“It has to be us. I want to see my team there doing what we normally do,” Mikel Arteta said before the game. “The rest, what the opponent is going to do and the atmosphere, we cannot control but for certain what we can control is being ourselves.”
Arsenal were a more cautious version of themselves over the 90 minutes, but this was a reminder of what the Champions League knockout stages are like. They are tense affairs in which momentum can shift instantly.
Declan Rice receiving his booking after a miscommunication with William Saliba and Galeno’s double-miss were both moments that punctuated the first half in such a way. Arteta’s side were fairly settled outside of these instances, but were far less adventurous than in recent weeks.
This was partly due to Porto’s compact set-up, but there still needed to be more pace injected to their build-up play. Slower movement of the ball makes Arsenal’s attacks more tame and predictable. Players made the same movements they usually do, such as White rolling inside to create space for Odegaard and Saka, but there was less time for them to hurt Porto.
That lack of sharpness transferred into their out of possession play which is what gave Porto encouragement until the late stages — and then came the real momentum shifter.
Arsenal need to show a much more assured version of themselves, both on and off the ball, in the second leg.
Art de Roche
What did they learn?
For an Arsenal side who lack experience in the Champions League knockouts, Mikel Arteta can be fairly happy with the maturity that his side played with across a tricky first leg away from home. A last-minute goal conceded is a setback rather than a hammer blow, setting up a tasty second leg as Arsenal look to turn around the deficit.
The game itself lacked cohesion, with the stop-start flow suiting Porto more than it did Arsenal — but it will be valuable experience for Arteta’s young side if they are to progress to the quarter-finals.
Arsenal are a side filled with international stars, but the dark arts of continental European football are something that they will have to get used to in the latter stages of this competition. The 36 fouls registered from both sides across the whole game was comfortably the most that Arsenal have been involved in within the Champions League this season.
With the likes of 40-year-old Pepe no doubt forgetting some of the streetwise dark arts that many Arsenal players have not even learned yet, it is important that Arteta’s side take the learnings back to North London and avoid getting sucked into the same battle in the second leg if they are going to book that place in the next stage.
Mark Carey
What did Arteta say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Arsenal?
Saturday, February 24: Newcastle (H), Premier League, 8pm GMT, 3pm ET
A rare Saturday night slice of Premier League action, with Arsenal out to avenge November’s 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park. They should do it — not only have Newcastle only ever won once at the Emirates Stadium, in 2010, but the last goal they scored there was eight visits and more than nine years ago.
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(Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images)
