Arsenal end Champions League curse as Arteta reshapes club

LONDON — Arsenal's Champions League round of 16 curse is finally broken. It required penalties at the end of a grueling 120 minutes – during which FC Porto tested the Gunners' patience in almost every way imaginable – but they reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 2010.

As a manager, Mikel Arteta inherited a glass ceiling of seven consecutive outings at this stage from 2011 to 2017 – including five as a player – but for the first time on his return to the premier club competition of Europe. , it was broken.

“For them to do it when the club hasn't done it for 14 years, I tell you it will be a boost,” Arteta said after Tuesday's match. “The margins are so small. You find a way to start again. I see how much they want it, how much they try, and they are able to sacrifice everything to win. When you play like that in the end, good things you will come to you.”

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The Gunners were perhaps not entirely convincing here, drawn level with Porto in a match which relied on gamesmanship and hostility rather than technical football. This led to both managers receiving yellow cards in separate incidents and further angry words exchanged between the two men at full time.

But technical performances can come later. Arteta's mission is to redefine Arsenal as serial challengers for the game's biggest prizes, because for too many years under former manager Arsene Wenger, the Gunners were almost laughing stock when the last 16 final were arriving. No more.

Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Leandro Trossard brought Arsenal level with a 41st-minute goal, which owed everything to the sharp feet and vision of Martin Odegaard to create the chance.

Porto proved a tenacious opponent, exaggerating contact all over the pitch, but also pressing with intelligence and courage to ensure the second half was not simply an attempt to repel wave after wave of Arsenal attacks . In fact, during extra time, the Gunners only managed one shot.

But when it counted, Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice kept their cool in the shootout while Wendell and Galeno saw their spot kicks brilliantly saved by David Raya to ensure this young Arsenal side innovates.

“What we expected, a really tough opponent, very well organized and very difficult to generate constant momentum in the game,” Arteta said. “It's a credit to them. We did it. We scored a nice goal and then we insisted in different ways. We had to do it at the end with the penalty shootout. We prepared well. Thanks to the coaches and those who took them.”.

It was the first time there had been a Champions League shootout since the 2016 final, which, surprisingly, also involved Pepê, who, at 41, became the first player over 40 to take part to this competition.

With that, Arsenal banished another demon after losing in the first ever shootout at the Emirates Stadium in the Europa League last 16 last year – against another Portuguese opponent, Sporting Lisbon.

Arteta will feel many of his calls have been justified: starting Trossard in place of the injured Gabriel Martinelli, and, most obviously, bringing in Raya despite Aaron Ramsdale not doing much of anything. badly during last season's title race.

Asked how he knew Raya would be able to cope with the high-pressure moments in front of goal, Arteta replied: “I didn't need to see him today; I was convinced he could.”

“You see it in those first days here – what he had to go through and how he did it with this composure,” Arteta added. “You look at his body language and the decisions he makes, he's not very affected. That's a key quality for this position.”

Losing here could have had the same debilitating effect as last season, when that outing at Sporting precipitated a run of form that ultimately cost Arsenal the Premier League title after winning just three of their last nine games.

Tuesday's result, Arteta hopes, could have the opposite effect.

“That’s the way we have to look at things right now,” he said. “If you get eliminated, you think, 'One less competition, that's great for the league.' Now here we are, it's the energy that it brings within the group, it can be very powerful and very useful.

“It's another big step, especially as a club. For seven years we haven't participated in this competition, and for 14 years we haven't gotten this far. It shows the difficulty. We We want more, and we're going to go for it, that's for sure.”