Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Saka, Havertz
Subs: Ramsdale, Hein, Cedric, Zinchenko, Partey, Elneny, Smith Rowe, Tomiyasu, Nelson, Vieira, Nketiah, Jesus
Arsenal secured their progression into the Champions League quarter finals for the first time in 14 years after beating Porto 1-0 (4-2 on penalties) after extra time.
Leandro Trossard scored the game’s only goal of the night, before David Raya saved two penalties in the shootout to make himself the hero.
Mikel Arteta made one change to the side that beat Brentford on Saturday with Raya replacing Aaron Ramsdale in goal.
Takehiro Tomiyasu also made his long-awaited return to the bench after recovering from a calf problem, with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus adding further Champions League experience.
Despite Porto dominating possession early on, it took three minutes for Arsenal to have their first sight of goal after three minutes when Ben White looped a header over after meeting Leandro Trossard’s cross at the back post.
Bukayo Saka called Diogo Costa into action minutes later after breezing past Nico Gonzalez on the right hand side, although the Portuguese goalkeeper saved comfortably in the centre of the goal.
Saka had another opportunity but miscued his header despite getting ahead of Wendell, before Evanilson shot wide after William Saliba headed back into the danger zone under little pressure.
The visitors continued to threaten – especially in wide areas – and Evanilson stung the gloves of Raya with a sharp turn and shot, before Wendell saw his subsequent effort blocked by Saka in the same passage of play.
Kai Havertz looked certain to break the deadlock after White broke beyond Saka and crossed, only for veteran defender Pepe to extend his neck muscles and crucially flick away with the German ready to power home a header at the back post.
Just as nerves began to creep in before half time, a moment of magic, crafted by captain Martin Odegaard in the 41st minute sparked Arsenal and the game into life.
His wonderful reverse pass on the edge of the box split the Porto defence wide open, allowing Leandro Trossard – who was being played onside by Pepe – to take one touch and curl into the far corner, setting the Emirates alight. 1-0.
The goal was perfectly timed and you could feel the collective relief at Arsenal levelling the aggregate score heading into half time.
However, Porto settled quickly after half time and proved their strength in the duel again with committed challenges and pressing throughout the early stages.
Arteta’s men kept pressing for their second but the visitors defended well and in numbers, reducing Arsenal to set pieces which were dangerous but ultimately dealt with.
In the 67th minute, it looked like Arsenal finally made the breakthrough they craved when Odegaard chipped beautifully into the net after Havertz did well to force a mix-up between Costa and Pepe.
But the goal was quickly disallowed after Havertz was deemed to have fouled Pepe – the German did pull his shirt – although the defender was very lucky after making a mess of the initial situation.
Minutes later, Porto came close to taking the lead when Francisco Conceicao found himself in acres of space and drove towards the Arsenal penalty box, but opted to shoot instead of passing which Raya did well to save.
Much like the first leg in Portugal, the game was littered with fouls and lacked fluency, with Arteta replacing the tiring Jorginho with Jesus; and the substitution seemed to give the hosts added impetus.
The Brazilian nearly made an instant impact – almost scoring with his first touch – after the ball broke his way in the penalty area but Costa was out quickly to smother the effort.
Then it was Odegaard’s turn to have his nearly moment, firing agonisingly wide after Costa spilled a Saka shot back into the danger area.
The game would eventually trickle to extra time with both sides battling for every ball, as the Emirates crowd became more frustrated with consistently inconsistent refereeing from Clement Turpin.
EXTRA TIME
Arsenal dominated possession throughout the first half of extra time, but the visitors were well organised and dogged again in their defensive work, leading to plenty of ‘nearly’ moments without really threatening.
Heading into the second half of extra time, Arteta threw Zinchenko and Eddie Nketiah on for Jakub Kiwior and Trossard for his last throw of the dice.
Slick interplay between Odegaard and Nketiah gave Saka another brief sight at goal, but his effort was blocked by the retreating Otavio who partnered Pepe excellently throughout the tie.
Referee Turpin blew exactly after 120 minutes, making it the first Champions League penalty shootout since the 2016 final between Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
PENALTIES
- Odegaard – GOAL (1-0)
- Pepe – GOAL (1-1)
- Havertz – GOAL (2-1)
- Wendell – MISS (2-1)
- Saka – GOAL (3-1)
- Grujic – GOAL (3-2)
- Rice – GOAL (4-2)
- Galeno – MISS (4-2)
ARSENAL WIN 4-2 ON PENALTIES TO SECURE THEIR FIRST CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL IN 14 YEARS!
Their early offside trap on the FK shows what these games are all about – every detail has been studied and prepared for. Excellent result, excellent Raya! Fuck those cunts.
They are a plucky side, no doubt and played the kind of football we struggle against. But we were also nervy. Hopefully, this win galvanises the boys and allow them play with more freedom moving forward.
The boys had to experience that type of game together.
The only word to describe it for me: Hectic
Bum twitching stuff.
Cant wait to get approved
You made it.
We want to play, they don’t.
We won, with a GUT PUNCH.
Must be very painful to lose in such a manner after 120 minutes of keeping us at bay.
Their coach is a pr*ck like old school Jose. Saw him speaking sternly to Arteta at the end there. Glad we are no longer a soft touch where odious teams like this would bully us into submission. We got up and at ’em and they looked rattled at the end there. Made the victory even sweeter.
They held us to one goal in 210 minutes. They never trailed at any point. They scored a miracle goal at the very end of the first tie to take the lead. They still had the lead 40 minutes into the second leg. Many of their players played just about as well as they possibly can.
They did every bit of shithousing, stalling, delaying, diving, faking, and shoving they could possibly get away with. The refs in both ties massively favored their style “play”.
And they STILL lost.
Ha ha ha ha haha! Must feel bad, huh?
It’s a game we would have lost frustratingly and painfully in years past, the team has grown and coming through tests like this can only benefit us going forward. Proud of the lot of them. Have to give credit to Kiwior who has come in out of position at the business end of the season and doing a tidy job.
C’mon, they were well set up in both our games and caused us a lot of problems, their defence was pretty good also, probably the best at playing out from the back I’ve seen at our home ground all season, at CL level that Porto play every year you don’t get out of your group without a bit of savvy, it was a tough game with fine margins yet Raya who had a superb game in 120 minutes was our hero, just two points as i was watching this game at home and pay a hefty price to listen to… Read more »
You did see a one legged ball boy.on crutches…
Absolute fuckers.
I know football isn’t about fairness, but this is simply Justice!!
Such a shame, so many foul deserving a yellow, tackles from behind, from which Porto players escaped with nothing…. there were at least 10!!
Mr Turpin, what an outrageous display
Looks like Porto’s training routine is made of 60 sec play, 60 sec on their arse whining… 60 sec play, 60 sec on their arse….What a parody of football
Still, we’re through and it’s so so much deserved !
David Raya, you beauty !!
Proud of this Arsenal team!
COYG
Shit ref and a shit team. I stopped counting after the 5th clear yellow they were never given.
Thought the ref was great tbh, if you want proof rewatch the first leg. And I’ve no shame saying we were nasty when we needed to be too.
Would disagree. Like Billy mentions above, so many clear offenses without a yellow is a shame at this level
We got away with plenty over the two legs as well.
Agree. Although 70< onwards there was some iffy calls. But I loved he troed to let both teams play, backing his own judgement on simulation (even if replays proved him wrong), and he also would explain to the players his rationale in the moment (moments with trossard and Jesus stand out, and both seemed to grudgingly agree). It's refreshing, particularly compared to the EPL where they, the refs, are above reproach
He let a lot go, pretty consistent. He was very reluctant to show yellow cards, which is fine with me.(Saliba, Pepe, Havertz yellows were all inarguable.) Made it clear he was not interested in the opinions of players (or managers) about his decisions, which I also like. I thought the second goal should have stood, but there was no way he would allow it after the shirt pull (for which Havertz was not cautioned, by the way). This felt a very different game than in Porto, although apparently most Arsenal supporters don’t agree.
Fair comment, and yes you are right on the yellows (this is the part I ineloquently called iffy). I would say though that no ref overturns a call based on player protest, and so I see no fault there. And yeh, this kind of refereeing style favours us vs the kind in Porto. So in this imperfect world, I’d absolutely have him ref us again next round 🙂
To think McHoist was praising the ref on TNT. I couldn’t bare the commentary tonight. It was so illogical it was beyond belief
Normally like McCoist, but he clearly enjoyed the game more then we did!!! Then paddy got up and he sang it again 😀
They were just happy to see a 90s style game with loads of dirty play
Love that the cunt galena missed
37 fouls called, and only three yellows given. Two to us. Tells you all you need to know.
I am COMPLETELY spent
120 minutes with OdeFans will do that to you
Thankfully we’re through, my heart rate is about to get back to normal and I can finally go to sleep
And this night will forever be remembered. Good fight porto but we just had to do it!!!
Normally, I wouldn’t watch a penalty shootout involving my team because my heart could literally explode from the nerves. But knowing Raya’s pedigree on pentalties I was weirdly very confident about our chances.
That’s a HUGE win! There were nerves. Hopefully, having progressed now, the boys will play with more freedom from the Quarters onward. COYFG!
Withooot a dooot, that was never in dooot
It’s 1 am. I’m wide awake. Happy but shook. Ecstatic but numb. I feel like I have aged a decade. I guess it will sink later at the office.
Take that ya cunts.
I’ve got one thing to say to Porto – HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Football won tonight. Bye bye Porto-cunts:)
With a special honourable mention to Pepe – HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Odegaard, a leader of leaders, big game player. Take a bow brother 👏
Raya was definitely MotM thanks to penalties but through 120 minutes it was Odegaard start to finish. So much pressing, such composure, and that absolutely brilliant assist. What a player.
And he took e 1st pen
Like all good Captains, he sets the tone. A true leader.
BIG game player. He carried that badge on his back for 120+ mins
His work rate was second to none. After a tough test on saturday, I hardly believed how he sprinted to disturb their keeper after 100 minutes.
Unbelievable. Pure class.
Still making those sprints to lead the press in the 116th minute, intelligence and unbelievably quick feet to create the goal. He’s actually getting even better.
Thanks arsenal I’ve gotta be up for work in the 6 hours and now have an adrenaline spike that will have me awake until 2am………phewwwwww COYG!!!
VAMOS!
simply love this team!!
I won’t be able to fall asleep for 3 hours. My
Vamanooossss
GET IN!!!
The hand of Raya.
Elation! Get the fuck in!
That was terrorism football by Porto. As stiff a test as we could have gotten. That will stand to us believe me.
I wonder if other teams will watch that and try to play us like that, and then the more important question, if even more refs will let them. Was it just a really bad coincidence we got such awful refs for these two legs?
The ref was fucking appalling. The opposition tactics combined with the absolute shite refs and the pressure of qualifying. That was some test to come through. Im absolutely exhilarated with that result. I’d genuinely take that over beating PSG or someone 2-0. It took more balls and spirit and defiance. Come on you fucking gooners!
Well said, agree this will be a brilliant reference point for this young squad, they should be seriously proud of managing to scrape through these two matches and get through. Do I want any more games like these two? fuck no. But inevitably there will be some, and it’s so good to see we can keep our heads and win them despite everything going against us.
Don’t think they can. Porto are prepared to plumb depths of cuntishness beyond any mourinho iteration.
I feel like Porto really know how to play us and neutralize our offense. They made every game super boring to watch in my opinion.
I feel like on games like that we should resort a bit more to individual brilliance, we have the talent for it. Like this assist from the captain.
But this team feels so mentally strong. Two games in a row, stepping up when it matters.
Why couldn’t we just win 5 or 6 nil with 3 goals in the first half like normal. My nerves are shot after that.
Amazing set of penalties and saves from the Arsenal.
We have come a long way in the last few years.
This was way more fun than thumping them 6-0. I’m not scared of anyone in the next round! COYG!!!
Phew! That was anything but straightforward. Thank God we won.
We’ll get either Barcelona or Bayern in the ⅛finals
1/4
Yea. Tapped ⅛ in error; when I spotted it, twas too late to change.
Nailbiting! But can we pls get a moderator in the liveblog chat already? Same guy keeps trolling without mods.
The fact that you are still upset about it just gives him ammo. Ignore him and he’ll go away.
Porto can go fuck themselves….
And Monsieur Turpin, avec tout le respect que je vous dois, allez vous faire foutre avec votre putain d’arrogance a la française !
… à la française…
😅
My nails are gone. I can’t take these kind of matches.
Last 8 here we come!
Do we know who would have taken our last kick if needed? Maybe Jesus?
I think Eddie or Zinchenko. Thank fuck we didn’t need to find out!
Great question! I was thinking Eddie, but DNK.
Was 100% gonna be Jesus.
Doesn’t have a great penalty record. Thought it was going to be Benny Blanco.
I suggest they go on holiday again.
Fuck me I haven’t lived a game like that in years. Knackered.
A great result but not a great performance.
We made it hard for ourselves against a decent but not great Porto side. I was expecting us to roll them over in the second half but instead we needed penalties. Saka very average tonight.
Big up to Raya: Ramsdale is rubbish at saving penalties so we would have lost it with him in goal.
It’s great that we’re through but we need to massively improve if we are to even get to the final.
Not the time for this fats.
What? Honesty?
You have a tendency to rubbish all of the opposition and look for perfection from our performances. Your standards of performance are unreasonable for any team that doesn’t cheat 115 times and this tends to negate your opinions with the wider supporters. Your claims of honesty are really hyperbole without context. But you are certainly on brand.
To be fair I agree with him for once, we didn’t hold the ball well against their press and some of our final balls were rubbish. But I do think there were extenuating circumstances for our mediocre display – almost zero of our players have been here and done that. You could see the occasion getting to Saka and others at times (somehow not to Ode but we’re not 100% sure he’s human are we?). If you keep that in mind, to have the frustration that it’s not clicking for you today and the other team is successfully manipulating the… Read more »
This is one of the best Porto side I have seen – no matter the tactics – they were disciplined, organized and nullified us for long periods. Super happy (and relieved) we had enough quality to qualify.
Fats just enjoy the win tonight, mate. Penalty shoot out win, adrenaline, great saves, a beautiful goal, the lads showing maturity. We have 3 whole weeks for analysis. Good night gooners. Get in!
Let’s go back to playing Wenger’s pretty football and getting spanked in this competition, you miserable cunt
it’s not about that at all, we didn’t win today because we tried to play an uglier style of football than in the Wenger era. You’re right that this team is better than those late era Wenger sides but it’s not because we don’t try to play pretty football, it’s because we can – and indeed try to- play like that, but whenever that fails, as it did today, we still do everything else it takes to win
This gives us experience. Great tie to have in the lads belts. It’s not just about what you can prove every game it’s also about what you can learn
I suppose we should respect your dedication to the half empty receptacle in the face of, finally, that same vessel being clearly more full than empty. Ya miserable fucker 😉
Agreed Fats with each & every point except Raya. Aaron has saved 3 penalties in his entire career whereas Raya 4, not much of a difference considering the fact that Raya has let in 33 & Aaron 23.
Anyways nervy but good win, however such games act as a blueprint for teams in the Premier League. Don’t be surprised if such nasty tactics are adopted by most teams from here on. In such cases, a plan B might work like having a target man upfront and lumping it long.
I was pleasantly surprised at just how good Raya was at saving penalties.
This could come in handy later in the season.
kai havertz?
Up til now Raya’s penalty saving has been worse than Ramsdale. Check his stats for Brentford, they are not good.
I thought when Odegaard’s goal was disallowed it was just not going to be our night. I’m delighted to be proven wrong. Onwards and upwards.
That was horrible. 2+ hours and the only good thing was the result. If that’s football in Portugal I wouldn’t watch it. Spirit of Mourinho runs through that club.
in portugal, the oponents don‘t have our quality…
Good job Raya 💪
What a rollercoaster. Felt like a real test of our character. Gotta find a way to win when the opposition plays ugly… and we did.
Deluded Porto manager said his team know how to win lol cheat more like!!! Anyway, the best team won and I’m glad Porto lost on penalties, it hurts, but they deserve it for being cheating scum 👍
Almost forgot, how was that +3mins extra? In what fucking world/dimesion?
I didn’t want to go out to Porto…what a bunch of cunts!
Yep. Fuck ’em. Time to play some football now.
I’m sure it’s been said but that’s one of the worst refereeing performances I’ve ever seen. Basic timekeeping rules not applied, dissent rules not applied, stopped counter attacks (both sides) nothing. So much more too. Glad it worked out OK. Hope we don’t have him again.
I’m exhausted. I can only imagine how the players must feel. I’m too wiped to say more right now but I will say this – that referee was a complete disgrace and there should be an inquiry into the injustices he perpetrated against us tonight. Well done Arsenal, you did it against one of the dirtiest, most blatantly cheating anti-football teams in Europe with the full weight of UEFA against you. You did us proud.
Porto: 20 fouls. 1 yellow card.
Ridiculous
People underestimated Porto who are a very difficult team to beat. But we did it. Odegaard, Kiwior and Raya outstanding.
24 years since the last quarter! We did it. We deserve it. That was risky. One Mikel Arteta.
Never much cared for the champions or Europa league competition. Generally the competition seems a bit sterile and the behavior of Latin clubs usually annoys me. The officiating also bothers me particularly the time keeping.
yet I pleased the team progressed.
afterwards arteta had heated words with the Porto coach and Gabriel was getting into it with some Porto player.
city next. Can’t wait.
The ref was terrible, but really more in the context of time wasting. There was no real great injustice when it came to the foul calls overall. There were good and bad calls for both squads. Dare I say it, but other than our VAR disaster, I like the flow of games that referees manage in the EPL way better than this hair trigger style in UCL.
No idea what was going on with the ref and timekeeping. In neither half was anything remotely close to the right amount given all the timewasting.
OhDeGooooood
I hope all the Porto players recover from all those injuries that they suffered through the game. I see where MU captain studied his craft. Pathetic!!!
Arsenal players deserve so much love for 120 min of absolute heart and soul they left out there today. They all wire that shirt proud today.
Don’t know why despite all he has done so far but i was a wee bit nervous when Kai turn came to take the spot kick. He still strikes me as a little awkward inside the penalty box but he did his dance and the ball sailed in. The other three pens were taken with so much confidence and certainty that i think their keeper lost his composure. WAY TO GO GUNNERS!
Does anyone know who was supposed to take the last penalty for us?
I would have thought Jesus or possibly Zinchenko.
Jesus is not great at Pens. Thank Raya we didn’t need it.
No idea but if I had to put money on it then I’d say Zinchenko.
The commentary was a disgrace. Is it just me or can I expect PLEASE a touch of England bias when an English team plays on an English network paid by English subscribers.
Or do we think the commentators in Portugal spent all night praising Arsenal??
I watched on paramount plus, the narrative was strong from the beginning. The 1st foul havertz gave away there was a whole discussion about how lucky he was not to be sent off on Saturday. Pepe was talked up as if he was St Francis of Assisi.
they did!