3/13/2024–|Last updated: 3/13/202402:42 AM (Mecca time)
The English team Arsenal qualified for the quarter-finals of the European Champions League by defeating, on Tuesday, the Portuguese club Porto on penalties 4-2 (regular and extra time 1-0) at the Emirates Stadium in north London.
Belgian Leandro Trossard scored the only goal of the match in the 41st minute, which is the first time that Arsenal has reached the quarter-finals since the 2009-2010 season, knowing that it was eliminated in the last 16 in its last 7 appearances.
The first leg ended with Porto winning by the same score.
Arsenal started the match attacking in an attempt to overturn their deficit in the first leg, but they collided with an organized team led by veteran centre-back Pepe (41 years old), who was playing his 120th match in the Champions League, and all the “Gunners” attempts were broken on the outskirts of the area, while Porto posed some danger by relying on On counter-attacks, including Brazilian Evanilson shot with his left hand from the outskirts of the area and passed the post (16), then the same player made a new attempt, but Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper, David Raya, was waiting for it (22).
Raya returned to the starting lineup after missing his team’s last match against Brentford in the local league, knowing that he was on loan from the latter, and loan laws in England do not allow any player to participate against his parent team.
But Arsenal succeeded in finding a gap in the Portuguese defense when its Norwegian playmaker and captain, Martin Odegaard, passed a wonderful through ball towards Belgian striker Leandro Trossard inside the area, and he shot it creeping out of the reach of Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa, opening the scoring (41).
Trossard opens the scoring for Arsenal and ignites the match 🔥⚽️#Champions League | #Arsenal_Porto pic.twitter.com/DlTnuO4UG6
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) March 12, 2024
Trossard participated in the match instead of Brazilian winger Gabriel Martinelli, who is recovering from injury.
The rhythm calmed down somewhat in the second half without a serious threat to the goals, and Arsenal’s Spanish coach Mikel Arteta made an offensive substitution by removing Italian midfielder Jorginho and bringing in Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus (80).
Two minutes after his arrival, Jesus had the opportunity to score the second goal for his team, but the Portuguese goalkeeper was waiting for him from close range (82).
The situation remained tied, so the two teams played extra time in two halves.
Arteta threw his last offensive card by bringing on Eddie Nketiah instead of Trossard at the beginning of the second extra half without changing the result, so the two teams went to penalty kicks, which smiled at Arsenal.