Champions League Round of 16 First-Leg

FC PORTO 1 (Galeno 90+4)
ARSENAL 0

LACKLUSTRE Arsenal paid the ultimate price for failing to put their foot on the gas tonight (Wednesday) as they suffered a last-gasp defeat away to Porto in the last-16 of the Champions League.

Despite dominating the first-leg tie at the Estadio do Dragao, the Gunners looked short on ideas as they failed to register a single shot on target.

And that lack of creativity came back to haunt them deep into injury-time when Galeno unleashed an unstoppable long-range effort that flew past David Raya to earn the home side what had seemed an unlikely 1-0 victory.

It was a moment of redemption for the Brazilian winger, who should have put Porto ahead in the first half when he squandered two sitters from close range – first hitting the post when it seemed easier to score, and then somehow managing to put an even easier chance wide from the rebound.

Mikel Arteta admitted that his side “lacked aggression”, insisting they “must do better” in the second-leg at the Emirates next month.

“I’m very disappointed in the way we gave the game away at the end,” said the Gunners boss. “If you cannot win it, don’t lose it. We dominated the game, but we lacked purpose to generate much more threat to their backline.

“We lacked threat and we lacked aggression, especially with the ball in the final third. We can do better.

“We cannot win with the way we handled the ball in deep areas. If you want to be in the quarter-finals you have to beat your opponent and this is what we will have to do at the Emirates now.

“We will learn from it. It’s only half-time.”

Arteta also seemed annoyed by the match officials. Quizzed on the number of fouls in the game, the Spaniard added: That’s the context of the game. It’s something that the referee has to manage.

“Every time we touched somebody it seemed to be a foul.”

Arsenal had racked-up the corners as they went in search of an advantage to take back to north London.

So it wasn’t all that surprising that their best chances came from set-pieces, with Gabriel, William Saliba and Kai Havertz all putting tame efforts wide of the target.

It was a surprisingly limp return from a side who went into the match off the back of five straight wins, and that had scored 11 goals in their last two Premier League outings.

The Gunners will still be confident that they can turn the tie around in the second-leg, which will take place at the Emirates on Tuesday, March 12.

FC Porto: Diogo Costa, Mario, Pepe, Otavia, Wendell (Eustaquio, 90), Nico Gonzalez (Jaime, 81), Varela, Conceicao (Borges, 85), Pepe, Galeno, Evanilson (Martinez, 85)
Substitutes not used: Ramos, Cardoso, Grujic, Sanchez, Namaso Franco, Baro, Ze Pedro

Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior; Rice, Odegaard, Havertz; Saka, Trossard (Jorginho, 74), Martinelli
Substitutes not used: Ramsdale, Hein, Smith Rowe, Nketiah, Cedric, Vieira, Nelson, Elneny, Nwaneri, Sweet, Heaven