As Arsenal prepare to host Porto in the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday night, captain Martin Odegaard has warned his teammates to expect "a lot of time-wasting" from the Portuguese side. The Gunners must overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg at the Emirates to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in 14 years.
The first leg in Portugal was marred by a season-high 36 fouls in the Champions League, with the ball in play for only 51.6 percent of the game. Porto's disruptive tactics proved effective as Arsenal failed to register a shot on target for the first time in all competitions since 2022.
"We already showed in that game what we learned in Porto, hopefully, we can do that even better on Tuesday. First of all, we want to play our game," Odegaard said. "We don't want to focus too much on them and what they are doing. We want to play our game and that's the main thing. We had to deal with a lot of different situations, a lot of time-wasting. We had to control our emotions the whole game and I think we did that brilliantly."
Odegaard also believes that Arsenal's 2-1 win over Brentford on Saturday night was the ideal preparation for the Gunners ahead of the second leg against Porto. The Bees successfully frustrated Mikel Arteta's men for large parts of the game and created chances of their own, before their resistance was eventually breached by Kai Havertz four minutes from time.
Manager Mikel Arteta has urged his players to be brave on Tuesday night and embrace the "beautiful opportunity" ahead of them. "(We) prepare the best possible way, make a lot of right decisions and then be brave," he said. "You cannot wait in these situations - you have to go and make things happen. That's the approach on Tuesday. We need that noise, we need them (the crowd) playing every ball with us and we need that emotional control as well to understand that the game will go through certain phases. And we have to be really intelligent to get what we want."
For Arteta, this match represents a chance to establish himself at European football's top table and move on from a series of disappointing exits in the Europa League during his time as manager. In his first season, Arsenal were knocked out of the Europa League in the last 32 by Olympiacos, and in 2020-21, they were defeated by Unai Emery's Villarreal in the semifinals. Last season, Arsenal were eliminated in their first knockout tie, a last-16 encounter against Sporting Lisbon.
Winning the FA Cup in his first season has staved off a greater examination of Arteta's record in knockout football, but the return to Champions League football has changed that. As transformative as a first Premier League title in 20 years would be, Arsenal have never won the Champions League, so Arteta has an opportunity to write history.
To reach the next phase of his coaching career and be discussed in the same breath as his mentor Pep Guardiola or his rival Jurgen Klopp, something more is required. It's not just about landing a massive trophy-it's about consistently arriving in the latter stages of competitions, contesting semifinals and finals, and demonstrating that your team is capable of repeatedly competing on more than one front.
Arteta knows all of this. "Now, a lot, because I haven't had my dinner! And we have to achieve something that we haven't done for 14 years," he said when asked how hungry he was to be in the quarterfinals.
The omens heading into the second leg are good for Arsenal. The last time the Gunners reached the quarterfinals in the Champions League was also the last time they qualified after overturning a first-leg deficit-incidentally, against Porto, losing 2-1 before trouncing them 5-0 at the Emirates.
As Arsenal look to banish the memories of those last-16 Champions League exits and Arteta seeks to move on from past European disappointments, the match against Porto represents a crucial step forward for both the club and the manager. With the right approach and a bit of bravery, Arsenal have the opportunity to write a new chapter in their European history and establish themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the Champions League.
