SAMI MOKBEL: Arsenal tasted a crash course in winning at all costs against Porto

You either win or you learn. That’s what Mikel Arteta will be banking on.

The instant pain of an injury time loss can be hard to shake off. Arsenal don’t have that luxury, of course - they welcome Newcastle to the Emirates on Sunday.

But when the dust settles from their last-gasp defeat here in Portugal on Wednesday, Arsenal’s players will head into the second leg against Porto safe in knowledge that they have more than enough in their armoury to win by at least two clear goals.

Indeed, there are learnings to be heeded from their loss at the Estadio do Dragao to make that task easier.

To be a success in Europe, you have to suffer nights like this.

Nights when inferior opposition use every trick in the book to somehow gain the upper hand.

Porto knew they couldn’t fight fire with fire against Arsenal. Arteta’s side would have blown them away.

So they niggled, they fouled, they disrupted. And they won.

‘That’s the context of the game,’ explained Arteta when asked about the Porto’s persistent fouling.

‘It’s something we knew and that we have to prepare for. It’s something that the referee has to manage.

‘We cannot do anything about it and we’ll have to handle it and play our game.’

So heading into the return leg, Arsenal can bank on another night of dirty tricks.

If they can keep their heads, they have the quality to dispatch of Porto in front of a home crowd who will be baying for blood.

That sort of European gamesmanship is something Arsenal’s young players aren’t used to.

They blitzed their way out of the group stages, scoring 16 goals - double the tally of PSV who finished second.

But the knockout stages are different ball game altogether. Arsenal tasted that medicine for the first time in seven years last night.

A crash course in