After seeing several of his players make mistakes in practice leading up to Tuesday night’s Champions League match, Mikel Arteta was not quite certain that Arsenal would defeat Porto in a shootout.
After losing to Porto by the same score in Portugal, the Gunners’ 1-0 victory at the Emirates leveled the series and advanced them to the quarterfinals. Reported By Metro.
After then, the match went to penalties, where Arsenal won hands-down with to David Raya’s two saves of the Portuguese team’s spot kicks, securing their spot in the quarterfinals.
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Arsenal had two tense games, particularly the penalty kicks that decided the contest. Arteta acknowledged that he wasn’t at all at ease before the kicks.
The manager of Arsenal acknowledged that, with some of his players absent from practice, 12-yard drills rarely went as planned.
When asked if he felt comfortable entering the shootout, he replied, “No, because some of them missed yesterday’s practice, not today.”
“We plan for everything—the additional time, the scenarios, the adjustments, the players’ required food and drink regimens, and everything else—but in the end, you have to play the game and it’s really hard to duplicate the scenarios.” The boys deserve all the credit for stepping up with maturity and confidence and delivering.
The fact that his players now understand how to handle pressure pleases the Spaniard, who believes it will benefit them going ahead.
Just in case we had to go through that tonight, he added, “probably a great experience, because that experience is much more real than what we’ve done in the last two days.”
The guys appeared really calm. They handled the penalties really well, and David Raya made a significant contribution as well.
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