Mikel Arteta did not hide his disappointment in yesterday’s match against FC Porto after Arsenal conceded a stoppage time goal at Estadio do Dragao placing their champions league campaign at the edge of elimination.
Porto’s Galeno delivered a breathtaking 94th-minute winner, leaving Arsenal on the brink of a European exit as they struggled to muster a single shot on target in the match.
The Gunner’s manager voiced his frustration with his team’s offensive performance and their defensive lapse on the decisive goal, emphasizing the urgency to overturn the tie at the Emirates next month.
Arteta said: “Obviously 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.
“We really 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.
“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.
“It was the last ball, so if in 94 minutes they haven’t had any naivety other than that one, I think it’s a bit cruel to judge it like that. But it’s true that it has had a big impact on the result. A lot of other things they did for the first time here were very good.”
Arsenal has failed to reach the Champions league quarter finals in the last 14 years. However, Arteta is determined to change the narrative insisting they can redeem their chances by overturning the result in the return leg at the Emirates stadium.
