Arsenal ‘not good enough’ in last-minute UEFA Champions League defeat to Porto – Mikel Arteta

Galeno’s stoppage time winner stole the victory for the hosts, who frustrated the Gunners throughout, and it will be up to the Premier League side to bounce back and overturn the slender deficit in the return leg at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal manager Arteta was visibly frustrated with the result and his side’s performance when he spoke to TNT Sports post-match.

“We have to manage [things] much better,” he said.

“You cannot win with the way we handled the ball on three occasions in deep areas.

“It’s not good enough, and then there is half-time. If we want to be in the quarter-finals, we have to beat our opponent, and that is what we have to do at the Emirates now.”

The visitors dominated possession in the early exchanges, but could not make their pressure tell as the Portuguese outfit defended their penalty box resolutely.

Porto, incidentally, had the better chances, with eventual match-winner Galeno striking the post, and Evanilson denied by a brilliant block from Declan Rice.

Arsenal centre-halves Gabriel and William Saliba both went close with nodded efforts.

But Arteta was disappointed with his side’s lack of real bite in the final third.

“We lacked threat; more aggression, especially when we had the ball in the final third, and purpose at the back to hurt them,” Arteta said.

“We will tweak a few things to attack better. We can do better.

“It’s a team that is very well organised defensively and they break your rhythm all the time – I don’t know whether it was 35 or 37 fouls during the game – allowing that is not good enough.

“There are certain things we have to do much better. Now we play at home, we know them, and we know what to expect.”

It looked like we couldn’t even touch anybody because otherwise it would have been a free kick. But we will learn from that, prepare better, and go and do it.”

Declan Rice, the Arsenal midfielder, shared his manager’s frustrations after the match.

Rice, who joined the Gunners for £100 million last summer, told TNT Sports: “When it’s 0-0, you look up at the clock, with 93 minutes gone.

“If you’re not going to win the game, don’t lose it. Maybe we didn’t have that little bit of savviness about at the end to stay in it and get a draw in a tough stadium, against a tough opponent. A lot to play for in the next leg, which is at home.”

“[It was] so frustrating [to concede late on]. I think it was a whole mixture of play, with a couple of giveaways on the edge of our box. We were probably breaking forward and then they caught us again on the counter and he’s stuck one in the top corner which is obviously really, really disappointing.

“We’re really positive as a group. We’ve had such a good start to 2024. We’re not going to let this get us down. We’ve got a big one on Saturday, and then we will readdress this game. It’s a big one in two weeks time.

“You’re going to see a team that plays on the front foot straight from the start and is looking to win the game. Hopefully we can do that.

“It is a real kick in the teeth because we’ve conceded late but we know what to do if we want to get into the next round. We know how we’ve got to win and what we’ve got to do to go about that.

“We’re really positive about it. We’re not going to let our heads drop. We’ve been in a great bit of form, it’s about staying positive, getting back, recovering, going again in the Premier League, and we’ll be ready for the Champions League, for sure.”