Arsenal 1 Porto 0 (1-1 agg, 4-2 pens): tactical analysis

Arsenal reached the Champions League quarter finals for the first time since 2010 with this penalty shootout victory over Porto. Trailing 1-0 after conceding a late goal in the first leg, Mikel Arteta’s team levelled the aggregate score, before goalkeeper David Raya made two saves to clinch a place in the last eight. 

It was Leandro Trossard who struck for Arsenal, shortly before half-time. But a performance of resolve from Sérgio Conceição’s Porto restricted the recently free-scoring Gunners, in a somewhat fractious game. Captain Martin Ødegaard thought he had put Arsenal ahead on aggregate, only for his second-half finish to be disallowed, when Kai Havertz was ruled to have fouled veteran defender Pepe.

And so it went to penalties. Ødegaard and Havertz duly converted from the spot, as did Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice. That left Raya to seal the result, keeping out Wendell and Galeno’s efforts and sending the home crowd into raptures.

How the managers saw it

“Magic,” was Mikel Arteta’s verdict. “What we expected, a really tough opponent, really well organised, very difficult to generate constant momentum in the game in the way they play and that’s credit to them.”

“In both games we were superior in everything,” said Porto manager Sérgio Conceição. “Arsenal have scored 13 goals in the last three games, are leaders of the Premier League and have fantastic individuals, but we managed to nullify their strengths with great collective work and great organisation.”

Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches highlight the key tactical themes from a charged Champions League tie…

Porto’s fast start

Porto began the game in a front-footed manner, breaking into a 4-3-3 high press to put Arsenal under pressure in their build phase. Evanilson triggered the press, by pressing William Saliba and jumping on to negative passes into David Raya, while keeping Saliba in his cover-shadow. Once the press was triggered, Francisco Conceição began to press out-in, anticipating passes into Gabriel while also preventing the pass out to Arsenal’s left-back (below).

Despite these efforts from Porto, Arsenal broke their press several times in the opening stages. As Evanilson jumped on to Raya, Rice (below) or Jorginho prepared the space with good quality movement and deception, allowing them to bounce out to the free man (Saliba, below). This triggered Galeno to press out-in on Saliba, leaving Arsenal to simply find Ben White unmarked. They could do this either through a second bounce (below) or by playing around the outside, with Saka on the last-line, pinning Porto’s full-back and preventing continuation of the press.

Porto’s most effective press in these early stages came from a slight alteration to their strategy, when Evanilson jumped to press Raya and Arsenal found the bounce through Jorginho. Rather than Galeno pressing out-in on Saliba, Nico González jumped off Jorginho and pressed instead, keeping Jorginho in his cover-shadow as he did so. This allowed Galeno to be aggressive on White, while Conceição on the far-side narrowed into a position to press on an inside pass into Jorginho, or a pass into Raya (below). Arsenal then found it much more difficult to escape, which led to Porto regaining possession when the Gunners attempted a longer pass into Saka on the last line.

Arsenal’s attempts to penetrate Porto’s block

Following Porto’s early spell of pressing, the game reverted into a cagey knockout tie, as the visitors settled into a compact mid-low block. Arteta and Arsenal’s challenge was then to execute solutions to break them down.

Arsenal’s approach early in the second half was to shape as more of a 3-4-3 in possession in the middle third. Jakub Kiwior narrowed inside to create a back three, alongside Gabriel and Saliba. White tucked inside to create a double pivot with Jorginho, creating a midfield box with Ødegaard and Havertz.

Rice stayed in a higher position to take the attention of Porto’s central-defenders. This was a theme and rotation that occurred on several occasions during the second half. This enabled Arsenal to overload Porto’s central-midfield trio, when White or Jorginho received behind Porto’s centre-forward, as well as isolating Porto’s full-backs 1v1 against Saka and Trossard (below).

Arsenal were also able to overload centrally with White staying wider and Havertz and Rice creating a midfield box. Porto had no interest in their central defenders being aggressive and tracking Havertz at this stage of the game, as it would have left them vulnerable to defending bigger spaces on their back line. This gave Arsenal a central overload to play through with quality combinations, and a wide overload with a 2v1 against Wendell, once White or Saka received behind Porto’s midfield line (below).

This became even more attack-minded as the game progressed and Arsenal went in search of a winner. In a further adaptation, Saliba pushed into a wider position, with White even higher to pin Porto’s full-back on the last line. As a result, Saka rolled inside to create the midfield box and overload centrally. This gave him the opportunity to receive in a more dangerous half-space position, to turn and go directly at Porto’s back-line.

Arsenal will have benefitted from the experience of playing such dogged opposition in a tight European tie. How far they will go in the Champions League in 2024 remains to be seen, but it was another step in the development of Arteta’s Arsenal.

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