Legendary former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry made a bold move during the Gunners’ penalty shootout win over Porto on Tuesday night.
Thierry Henry made a display of his supreme confidence in Arsenal before the end of the spot-kick showdown.
The Gunners certainly looked assured from the spot. Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, and Declan Rice all converted confidently. The headlines will be hogged by David Raya, though, as the Spanish goalkeeper made two saves in the shootout to send the north London club through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2014.
Aaron Ramsdale was quick to celebrate with Raya after his penalty heroics, as the Emirates Stadium was sent into raptures.
Galeno was the man to take the final penalty for Porto. The Brazilian attacker was the man who bagged the Portuguese side’s late winner in the first-leg of this round of 16 tie at the Estadio do Dragao. Plenty of Arsenal fans felt that Raya was at fault for that goal. However, when the two players came up against one another in the shootout on Tuesday, it was the Brentford loanee who came out on top.
This outcome came as no surprise to Henry. As documented by CBS Sports, rather than watch Galeno’s spot kick, the Frenchman felt so convinced that the Porto man would miss that he felt comfortable leaving the gallery and making his way down to pitch-side. The former striker said, “the way he put the ball down, it looked suspicious to me, so I left.”
David Raya justifies Arsenal place amid Thierry Henry prediction of Porto failure
Of course, Henry’s instincts were proven correct, as Raya went the right way and kept Galeno’s effort out.
There has been huge debate about the goalkeeper situation at Arsenal throughout this season. Raya arrived at the Emirates Stadium in the recent summer transfer window on a season-long loan deal from Brentford. Mikel Arteta quickly made the controversial decision to make him the new Arsenal No. 1, ahead of fan-favourite Ramsdale.
At first, Arteta suggested that he would rotate the two ‘keepers regularly. That plan never came to fruition, though. It has been suggested that Ramsdale may well now feel betrayed by Arteta because of this.
However, whilst there have been ups-and-downs for Raya between the sticks this season, he has now justified the Spanish coach’s faith in him. Arsenal plan to make Raya’s move permanent, and he now looks set to be the Gunners’ first-choice goalkeeper for the foreseeable future.
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