Porto in pole position as late Galeno strike sinks lacklustre Arsenal

Champions League Round of 16

Porto 1 Arsenal 0

A below-par performance from Arsenal saw them dramatically lose 1-0 on their return to the Champions League Round of 16 away to FC Porto.

A 94th minute winner from Galeno saw the Portuguese side edge the Gunners after both sides had missed glorious chances to assert themselves in this encounter heading into the second leg at the Emirates.

Defeat for Arsenal ends their five-match winning streak, as they returned to the Champions League with a whimper.

Returning to the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in seven years, Mikel Arteta’s side arrived in Portugal in a rich vein of form, with the Gunners boss refusing to be drawn on his side’s inexperience at this level. 

In this round of the Champions League for the fifteenth time, the Gunners were looking to not add to their record nine defeats at this stage.

It could not have been a more disruptive opening couple of minutes for the away side, with a concerning lack of concentration and control being shown from the usually imperious away side.

Declan Rice was the unlucky recipient of a yellow card only two minutes in after he fouled Galeno following a sloppy William Saliba pass. It was not a stellar affair from either side in the opening exchanges, with Arsenal rarely allowed much time on the ball from Porto’s aggressive block.

In the 21st minute, Porto should have gone ahead. 

A well-worked move down the right-hand side led to Galeno nipping in front of Gunners defender Gabriel, with the Brazilian’s strike smashing against the left-hand post. 

To the relief of the away side, the ball rebounded directly back to the winger to blast wide of the opposite post to the disbelief of their supporters.

It