It took 30 minutes and four more sets of consequences than they would have liked, but Arsenal qualified for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 after beating Porto in the aftermath on Tuesday.
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After controlling most of the first half and creating the best scoring chances, Arsenal finally managed to break through and equalize in the 41st minute. Martin Odegaard picked up the ball and raced into the most sensitive part of the box before sliding a ball past Leandro Trossard from the left flank. Trossard did it with ease and found the narrowest way to beat Diogo Costa right at the far post. 1-0 on the matchday, 1-1 on aggregate.
Chances were quite infrequent in regulation time, with the exception of what happened in the 67th minute. Ben White played a long ball over the Porto defense for Kai Havertz to get through, and Havertz eventually beat the ball to 41-year-old Pepe and controlled it to go. He returned the ball to Odegaard, who ran and was late. He passed the ball over Havertz, Pepe and Costa dropped to the ground and walked away as the red part of north London came to life.
But before he could get the corner, the referee reflected on the series and that Havertz had fouled Pepe when he grabbed him by the shirt and threw him off balance to win the ball back.
3 shots were taken in extra time as both groups ran out of fuel and looked to save enough for one last shot in the penalty shootout. Arsenal were 4 of 4 from the penalty spot and David Raya made two saves (and put his finger in). (in some other attempt) to the safe passage to the quarterfinals, where Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and PSG await lately, and anyone can face anyone on Friday.
On the one hand, Mikel Arteta has perhaps the clearest picture of his favourite starting XI among the 20 managers in the Premier League. On the other hand, he runs the risk of not only overloading the 12 or thirteen players he selects for the team, but also running out of players. to have compatibility features to come off the bench in the most important games of the next 3 months. Case in point: in the first half of extra time (105 minutes of Tuesday’s match), Arteta had made only one substitution, and it was simple to see why. Gabriel Jesus came on in the 83rd minute, leaving Oleksandr Zinchenko and Eddie Nketiah, who played the final 15 minutes, along with Emile Smith Rowe (102 Premier League minutes in 2024), Fabio Vieira (45 minutes in PL since mid-November) as attacking features.
Jesus and Nketiah would also not be considered fit at the moment, with just one goal and two assists (all from Jesus) between them this year at Calfinishar. If Arsenal want to qualify for the semi-finals, final or final this season, they will want one of the Los Angeles Angels we just mentioned to have a significant effect at the end of at least one game: Lucas Moura of Los Angeles for Tottenham in 2019, but first. Arteta will. You have to accept it as true and believe in one of them to accomplish the task.
The draw for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals will take place on Friday at 7 a. m. ET.
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Goalscorers: Léandro Trossard (41′)
Directed (4): Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, Declan RiceFoul (0): None
Fact (2): Pepe, Marko GrujicSurprised (2): Wendell, Wenderson Galen
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Start: p. m. ET, Tuesday, March 12. How to watch: Paramount and TUDN USA
Raya – Blanc, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior – Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard – Sake, Trossard, Havertz
Costa – Mario, Pepe, Otavio, Wendell – Varela, González – Conceição, Pepe, Galeno, Evanilson
The biggest injury challenge for Arsenal is Gabriel Martinelli, who suffered a nasty cut on his foot in last week’s win at Sheffield United. Martinelli missed the win against Brentford on Saturday and is questionable for this game, so Trossard can start wide open. , however, Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey are available and catching up and can get into the starting line-up of Trossard and Jorginho respectively. Takehiro Tomiyasu is eligible to return, while Jurrien Timber is the only Arsenal player to be seriously injured. Arsenal’s defence is very solid and David Raya will start after failing to play against his parent club Brentford at the weekend.
Evanilson and Galeno will be important for Porto on the counter-attack, while they want Portugal internationals Diogo Costa and Pepe to hold their own in goal and central defence. Midfielder Alan Varela was perfect in the first leg and will be looking to block. Rice and Odegaard. Young finisher Otavio has been at the right time after joining the team, while Wfinishell has admirably replaced the injured Zaidu Sansusi at left-back. Not enjoying Mehdi Taremi’s experience in the first game was a blow, but Porto proved enough. In the first leg to remember that it will be a close and tense match for as long as imaginable and that they will have enough quality in attack to take advantage of all the half-opportunities they have.
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