David Raya was the hero as Arsenal reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010 with a dramatic win over Porto on penalties.
The Gunners’ No1, back in the starting lineup on Tuesday evening after being ineligible to face parent club Brentford in the Premier League at the weekend, denied Brazilian duo Wendell and Galeno in the shootout after a nervy 1-0 win on the night for Arsenal that levelled the tense last-16 tie at 1-1.
Raya so nearly kept out ex-Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic’s penalty too, with Mikel Arteta’s side perfect in response as Martin Odegaard, Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice all netted their respective spot-kicks to break a run of seven successive exits in the first knockout stage of Europe’s elite club competition for Arsenal in their first campaign back at this level since 2016/17.
The in-form Gunners, top of the Premier League table for the first time since Christmas and scoring for fun of late during eight top-flight wins in a row, trailed 1-0 from the first leg in Portugal last month after Galeno’s last-gasp wonder strike, of which questions were asked of Raya, but started brightly on Tuesday, creating early chances before wily Porto began to manage the game expertly.
Arsenal did get the breakthrough they needed just before half-time in normal time, with Leandro Trossard sweeping low beyond Diogo Costa after a superb pass from captain Odegaard.
However, the hosts could not find another goal to take them through without the lottery of penalties despite dominating thereafter in the second half and through extra time, setting the stage for Raya to shine.
The closest Arsenal came was when Odegaard fired into an empty net to spark another Emirates eruption, but the goal was rightly chalked off for Kai Havertz’s shirt pull on 41-year-old defender Pepe.
