Furious Arteta urges Arsenal to "learn" from Porto late winner

Arsenal were back in the last 16 of the Champions League six years later, but the Gunners' return to the knockout stages of the Champions League was not as nice as the Londoners would have liked.

Mikel Arteta's side failed to muster a single shot on target against the home side, who managed to snatch victory thanks to a late strike from Galeno, who beat Raya with a curling effort into the top corner from 26 yards out.

The Spanish coach spoke at a press conference after his side's defeat at the 'Do Dragao' and was furious at his team's lack of "purpose" when attacking and lack of experience in not holding on to the draw and conceding a late goal..

"I am very disappointed with the way we gave the game away at the end. Not managing that situation well enough. You get punished in the Champions League. If you cannot win it, you don’t lose it," he said.

"We dominated the game but we lacked purpose, especially in the first half. You need to have much more aggression, you need to break lines, to play forward and generate much more threat on that backline," he added.

"In the second half there were much better things and we ­generated a lot of situations, without really ­creating much from it. We will learn from it. Now it is clear, it is half time. If you want to be in the quarter-finals you have to beat your opponent," the Spanish coach concluded.

 

February 21, 2024