Paul Merson admits what the Arsenal icon saw from the Gunners at FC Porto ‘worries me’ after Mikel Arteta’s team lost 1-0 in the first leg of the Champions League last 16.
A late goal by Galeno handed the Dragoes the aggregate advantage on Wednesday night as Porto made Arsenal rue Gabriel Martinelli cheaply losing possession. The Dragoes’ forward struck in the 94th minute after Otavio easily intercepted the Brazilian’s long switch of play.
Galeno produced an exquisite finish to send his finessed shot out of David Raya’s reach. The Liga Portugal giants will now visit Emirates Stadium for the second leg on March 12 carrying a slender advantage. But Merson still feels Arsenal have enough to reach the quarter-finals.
Paul Merson admits Arsenal’s display in the loss at Porto ‘worries me’
Merson is convinced that Arsenal will score enough goals on home soil to beat Porto for the club’s first win the Champions League last 16 since 2010. But how the Gunners failed to net at the Estadio do Dragao leaves him apprehensive and questioning their chances of the title.
“With the change in the rules, with the no away goal rule, you don’t know whether to stick or twist,” Merson outlined on Sky Sports News (24/2, 12:20). “It was one of them situations; inexperience, dominated the game, never looked like scoring and then sloppy at the end.
“I still think they’ll go through but it worries me, now, the inexperience. It’s hard to play away in the Champions League, or in any European game, and go and get a result is a lot harder than what people think. It doesn’t matter what league that you’re playing in.
“But I still think they’ll get the job done at home. But I don’t think they have the experience, looking at it now, to go all the way.”
10 of Arsenal’s starting XI had never played a Champions League last 16 tie
Arsenal controlled 65% of the possession at Porto but only used their time on the ball to try seven shots. Captain Martin Odegaard also took the Gunners’ most attempts with two from the engine room. While Arsenal also failed to send one single shot on target on Wednesday.
Porto, on the other hand, used their 35% share of the possession to attempt eight shots and directed two on target. Galeno took the most attempts on goal by either team with three as his Brazilian counterpart, Martinelli, failed to take a single shot along with a costly turnover.
Now, Arteta will hope the Arsenal players learned from their experience of losing to Porto in the Champions League last 16 first leg. The tie marked a debut in that round for 10 of the 11 players he started. Only Kai Havertz had previously played in the Champions League last 16.
Havertz also won the competition with Chelsea and scored the winning goal in Porto to beat Manchester City 1-0 in 2021. But this season is also the first campaign that eight of the stars Arsenal started in Porto have played in it, except Gabriel Magalhaes, Odegaard and Havertz.
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