Porto 1-0 Arsenal: Champions League Round of 16 first leg
A last-gasp long-range strike by Rodrigues do Nascimento Galeno in the 94th minute was the unexpected climax to this slow-burning Champions League Round of 16 first leg tie.
Just as Arsenal's first knock-out clash for seven long years at Europe's top table appeared to be heading for a palatable goalless draw for Mikel Arteta's side, Galeno, a 26-year-old Brazilian-born attacker struck from outside the box to hand a vital 1-0 victory to the home side.
The goal prompted utter pandemonium on and off the pitch, as the Porto team, bench and all manner of random individuals ran onto the turf to celebrate the unexpected winner. Amid the genuinely unnerving ear-splitting noise in which you struggled to hear yourself think, the sold-out crowd of nearly 50,000 erupted in raucous, booming unison.
With the Gunners not having progressed over a two-legged knock-out tie since the last time they played in this modern, but atmospheric stadium in Portugal's beguiling second city back in 2010, a goalless draw would have been a satisfactory result - but Porto had other ideas.
While the scoreline was different, the defeat mirrors the North Londoners' visit 14 years ago, when they lost the first leg 2-1.
The nervy start Arsenal made indicated there could to be a repeat - even if those in red and white would certainly encourage a mirror of the second leg result in 2010 which saw Arsenal dispatch Porto 5-0 in N5 to win that tie 6-2 on aggregate.
However, on their way to such a galling late defeat on Wednesday evening in front of 49,111 supporters, including nearly 3,000 vociferous visitors housed high up in the gods - many of who had been merrily imbibing for many hours at the evocative Victorian-era port houses at down at the city’s mesmerising quayside - an initially trepidatious Arsenal saw Declan Rice booked after only 80 seconds by referee Serdar Gozubuyuk.
The quick caution came following a mix-up between the £105m midfielder and defensive colleague William Saliba that saw the latter catch Galeno late.
The jitters continued when a miscommunication between Jakub Kiwior and Gabriel saw keeper David Raya race out of his box, nearly to the touchline, in a bid to clear the ball from the onrushing Galeno.
While Raya achieved his aim of putting the ball out for a throw-in, if Galeno had been quicker the space the former Brentford keeper had vacated in his box could have been exploited.
Player of the night Galeno could and should have put the home side ahead on 21 minutes, but his first attempt struck the post before firing the rebound wide, with many in the crowd believing the ball had beaten Raya. It had, but not Lady Luck and the score stayed goalless.
Gonzalez fired over the bar with eight minutes of the first half remaining, prior to the same player testing Raya with a low shot following a neat backheel from colleague Pepe.
Ten minutes after the interval Leandro Trossard fired over the bar from Rice's corner. From the restart Porto raced up the other end, with Ben White receiving a caution for curtailing the action on the edge of the area.
Excellent work from Martinez as the home side's No29 drove into the box to tee up Galeno, saw the attacker fire over the bar when well-placed as Porto stepped up the pressure. midway through the second half.
However, just as it appeared Arsenal were to prove resolute in a hostile atmosphere - with Gabriel nearly winning it at the last, but for his header from Rice's well-calibrated free-kick flying over the bar - Porto struck, to cue pandemonium.
As referee blew his full-time whistle moments later, all that was left was the thunderous and throaty cheers from the majority of the stadium - not to mention the incessant booming of the Porto drums, along with all manner of flags and banners raised - as everyone assembled here in Oporto now await the second leg on Tuesday, March 12 with great interest.
