Arsenal were the team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a thrilling 4-2 penalty shootout win over Porto in London.
Arsenal managed to bend the resistance of Porto 4-2 on penalties, with Wendell and Galeno being the fateful ones for the Portuguese. The English side progressed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after winning 1-0 on 120 minutes thanks to a goal from Leandro Trossard to equalize the score of the first leg.
The penalty shootout
- 1-0 from Edgard for Arsenal
- 1-1 Pepe Aquino for Porto
- 2-1 the cool Havertz for Arsenal
- The ball hits the post and then Raya’s foot from Wendell’s penalty
- 3-1 Saka for Arsenal
- 3-2 Porto with a nice penalty by Grujic
- 4-2 Rice for Arsenal
- Raya saves Galeno’s effort and Arsenal advance
The two teams lined up on the pitch without any of them being able to dominate. The tactical plan of Sergio Conceição had an effect, as a result of which the “dragons” stepped fearlessly on the field and had the ball at their feet.
In fact, they were the ones who came closest to the goal first with a long shot by Evanilsson that was cleared by David Raya. The 41-year-old Pepe prevented a certain goal from Kai Havertz shortly after, but he didn’t do as well in the 41st minute. A piece of magic from Martin Edgard released Leandro Trossard against the Portuguese stopper, with the Belgian catching up to make it 1-0.
The 1st part ended with quite a few nerves after tough duels with protagonists Declan Rice and Ottavio and the 2nd started with the Londoners having the knife in their teeth and the guests giving away meters and the ball and only defending.
The home side threatened from set pieces, but without the big chance, until the 68th minute, when Edgard fired the ball into an empty net, but the referee had already blown the whistle for an attacking foul by Havertz.
Arsenal’s pressure didn’t bear fruit, the two managers started their changes in the 83rd minute (with the first of them, Gabriel Jesus, having four fours a minute later) and the game went into extra time.
Fatigue was evident in extra time and only substitutes were able to run. The two teams were waiting for the penalties, and so were the two coaches. In the 30 minutes there were only three finals and one on target, for the Portuguese and finally the solution was provided by the penalties.
Wendell and Galeno failed to beat David Raya and Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after seven exits in the round of 16, hoping to continue their run of last five teams knocking out Porto out to reach the final.
- ARSENAL: Raya, White, Saliba, Magaliaes, Kivior (106′ Zinchenko), Edgard, Rice, Jorginho (83′ Jesus), Saka, Havertz, Trossard (106′ Enketia)
- PORTO: Costa, Mario (86′ Sanchez), Pepe, Ottavio, Wendell, Varela (90+7′ Grujic), Nico (101′ Eustaquio), Conceição (101′ Borges), Pepe Aquino, Galeno, Evanilsson (86′ Taremi )
Round of 16 results
FIRST GAMES
- Copenhagen – Manchester City 1-3 (34′ Matson / 11′ De Bruyne, 45+1′ Silva, 90+3′ Foden)
- Leipzig – Real 0-1 (49′ Diath)
- Paris – Real Sociedad 2-0 (58′ Mbappe, 70′ Barcola)
- Lazio – Bayern 1-0 (69′ penalty Immobile)
- Inter – Atletico 1-0 (79′ Arnautovic)
- Eindhoven – Dortmund 1-1 (56′ pen. De Jong – 24′ Mullen)
- Napoli – Barcelona 1-1 (75′ Osimen / 60′ Lewandowski)
- Porto – Arsenal 1-0 (90+4′ Galeno)
SECOND MATCHES
- Real Sociedad – Paris 1-2 (89′ Merino / 15′, 56′ Mbappe)
- Bayern – Lazio 3-0 (39′, 66′ Kane, 45+2′ Miller)
- Real – Leipzig 1-1 (65′ Vinicius / 68′ Orban)
- Manchester City – Copenhagen 3-1 (5′ Akanji, 9′ Alvares, 45+3′ Haaland / 29′ Elyounoussi)
- Barcelona – Napoli 3-1 (15′ Fermin, 17′ Cancelo, 83′ Lewandowski / 30′ Rahmani)
- Arsenal – Porto 4-2 pt., 1-0 d.p., 1-0 d.c. (41′ Trosar)
- 13/03 22:00 Atletico – Inter
- 13/03 22:00 Dortmund – Eindhoven
* The draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will take place on March 15.