A twist on the night, from one glorious curling long-range effort. It really was something out of nothing. Just when Arsenal’s trip to Porto seemed to be drifting towards the most dismal of 0-0s, Wenderson Galeno took hold and let fly to suddenly leave Mikel Arteta’s side having a lot to do in the second leg of this Champions League last-16 tie. They now must overcome a 1-0 deficit, having seemed to be rather complacently settling for a draw.
It should never have got to this, but then Arsenal never got going. That is perhaps the greatest frustration, as Porto – and, admittedly, an overly officious referee – ensured this was the worst type of stop-start game.
It has certainly stopped Arsenal scoring. After having scored 21 goals in five games, to seemingly end all talk of a staleness afflicting their attack, Arteta’s team went through a blank for the first time since the turn of the year.
That might have been just a blip, made that way by the nature of Porto’s game, but that is something the manager is going to have to be attuned to – not least in the second leg.
Arteta will know they should have done so much more here.
