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Mikel Arteta will face the press after the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 between his team and FC Porto at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners came into the match knowing they would need to overturn a 1-0 deficit following a late defeat at the Estadio do Dragao in the first leg. Sensing this, the home fans were fully willing to help their team turn the tie around and the match began in a raucous atmosphere.
However, Porto did well to build on the early momentum which created opportunities for Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard. In fact, they were able to create some chances of their own through Evanlison and Galen on the counter.
However, Arsenal finally broke through when Leandro Trossard provided an excellent finish to a defense-splitting pass from Odegaard behind Porto’s disciplined defense five minutes before the break.
The second half continued with the same cautious tone, but just after the hour mark, Arsenal looked to have made the breakthrough when Odegaard scored after a defensive mix-up. However, the goal was controversially disallowed as Kai Havertz was deemed to have fouled Pepe in the build-up.
Then there was nothing to separate the two teams and the game continued cautiously until extra time. Arteta was reluctant to use his substitutes by waiting until the second half of extra time to bring on Alex Zinchenko and Eddie Nketiah as he had only brought on Gabriel Jesus in normal time.
Still, when the match went to penalties, it was Arsenal who ultimately prevailed. David Raya was the hero, making two saves to send the Gunners into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010.
You can hear everything Arteta has to say about all that and much more with football.londonArsenal Chief Correspondent Kaya Kaynak in our live blog below.
23:29Kaya Kaynak
Arteta in his young team
That they do it when the club hasn’t done it for 14 years, that tells you the difficulty. They are willing to sacrifice anything to win. When you play that way, you will be rewarded.
23:29Kaya Kaynak
Arteta in the game
A magical night. We expected a really tough opponent. It’s very difficult to build momentum and that’s to their credit. It’s a great experience for us. We also had to do it through penalties. Credit must be given to David, who had some tough times getting started but showed incredible determination, got back on his feet and was rewarded.
23:10Kaya Kaynak
“This means everything”
David Raya speaking with TNT Sports:
“It’s obviously a great feeling for me personally, to be in the Champions League for the first time and for the club to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in so many years.
“We played a really good game from the beginning. We dominated, we created chances and it all went to penalties. We have worked a lot on penalties this year and all the hard work with the goalkeeping coach and the team has paid off.
“It’s a great personal and collective moment. I’m delighted to be able to save two penalties in the Champions League to advance to the quarter-finals. They made it very difficult there, they played their game, but we scored the goal we needed and everything came to penalties and it was a crazy moment.
“Apart from physically for the guys, mentally it’s difficult, but especially for me, being focused every second, you can’t switch off.
“This means everything. You play football for these kinds of things and I’m lucky to play for Arsenal, to be in the Champions League and to make it to the quarter-finals. Let’s just enjoy the night.”
22:57Kaya Kaynak
Player ratings
David Raya was absolutely sublime in the penalty shootout, while Jakub Kiwior was my MOTM in normal time. Closed race with Martin Odegaard. Tough night for Saliba and Zinchenko, but everything will be forgiven.
Read Kaya Kaynak’s full Arsenal player ratings here.
22:57Kaya Kaynak
Welcome
Hello and welcome to football.londonCoverage of Mikel Arteta’s press conference after Arsenal’s Champions League round of 16 victory over Porto on penalties!