The Champions League Round of 16 match between Porto and Arsenal ended in a surprising 1-0 victory for Porto. The game was highly anticipated, with both teams boasting strong lineups and eager to advance to the next stage of the competition.
Porto started the game with great intensity, pressing high and creating several scoring opportunities. Their efforts paid off in the 62nd minute when Mehdi Taremi scored a brilliant goal, giving his team the lead. Arsenal tried to respond but struggled to break through Porto's solid defense.
The Gunners will back themselves to overturn a 1-0 deficit from Wednesday's first-leg defeat against Porto, but to do so they must rediscover the poise and purpose that made them heavy favourites before kickoff.
Before Galeno's sublime 94th-minute winner, Arsenal were unusually inhibited, bereft of the dynamic football that has come to define them: they failed to register a shot on target in a match for the first time since January 2022, against Nottingham Forest in an FA Cup third-round defeat which left Arteta incandescent with rage. He was more considered here, safe in the knowledge they have a chance to rescue the situation in three weeks.
Galeno scored deep into stoppage time to give Porto a 1-0 win in the first leg of the round of 16 on Wednesday. The English team will need a victory in the return leg in London on March 12 to make it back to the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition.
The refereeing was particularly noticeable, and not in a good way, on Arsenal attacking corners. Porto adopted “fall over” as a tactic and the referee was repeatedly conned into giving fouls. It happened elsewhere on the pitch, too. Porto players would lean into Arsenal ones and then fall over, consistently winning fouls to break up the play. Or they would run into Arsenal players, throw themselves over, and get the foul.
Arsenal’s 22 fouls committed were the most in the Champions League since 2021. Arsenal did not commit anywhere close to 22 fouls. The referee was conned into calling 22 fouls against Arsenal. As a result, the ball was in play for a paltry 50 minutes. There weren’t any really big decisions to get up in arms about, but the referee was consistently bad all night.
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