Finally, the Gunners made it. After 14 years, they are in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The opponent was tough, as all of Sergio Conceicao’s teams are. Trossard levelled the score in the first game after 40 minutes, but Arsenal just couldn’t score in the second one. It had to be a full 120 minutes of football and penalty drama to get the Gunners through and the crowd played a big part in all of this. When coach Mikel Arteta invited them to ‘bring their noise’ they did just that, and the Spaniard was thrilled.“It was a magical night. It was what we expected against a tough opponent, who were really well organised. We scored a beautiful goal. That’s a huge experience for us, we needed penalties and we prepared well of that. We found a way, I can see how much they want to win. How much they were sacrificing. When you play like this sooner or later it’s going to go your way. I’ve probably not experienced an atmosphere like that at the Emirates, it was amazing from the start to to the end. Huge ‘thank you’ to them and today I thought they impacted the game” said Arteta after the game.UCL: Raya’s two magic saves in penalty-drama send Arsenal to quarter-finalHowever, the fight did not take place only on the field. The valuable stake affected the level of tension between the actors, and it sparked even beyond the touchline. After the game at the Emirates and the elimination from the Champions League, Porto coach Sergio Conceição pointed out the unsportsmanlike behaviour of his colleague from the opposing camp.”Michel Arteta turned to our bench during the game and then insulted my family in Spanish. At the end of the game, I approached him and said that the person he offended is no longer among us, he must be careful. Arteta should take care of the training of the team he leads, which has more than enough quality to play much better. The result tonight is not fair for us, we deserved to go on” Conceição said after the game.pic.twitter.com/ZFzTDWtpFb— i am not @dacodac “French Gøøner” (@dacodacC7) March 12, 2024 The penalty hero was Arsenal’s keeper David Raya, who saved two shots and enabled his team to go through.“Obviously it’s a great feeling for me personally, first time in the Champions League and for the club to get into the quarter-finals for the first time in so many years. We played a really good game from the start. We dominated, created chances and it went down to penalties. We’ve worked a lot on penalties this year and all the hard work with the goalie coach and the team has paid off” said the on-loan Brentford keeper.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE1/8 finals – second legTuesdayBayern – Lazio 3-0 (2-0)/Kane 38, 66, Muller 45+2/Bayern win 3-1 on aggregateReal Sociedad – Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 (0-1)/Merino 89 – Mbappe 15, 56/Paris Saint-Germain win 4-1 on aggregateWednesdayReal Madrid – RB Leipzig 1-1 (0-0)/Vinicius 65 – Orban 68/Real Madrid win 2-1 on aggregateMan.City – Copenhagen 3-1 (2-1)/Akanji 5, Alvarez 9, Haaland 45+3 – Elyounoussi 29/Manchester City win 6-2 on aggregateTuesday the 12thBarcelona – Napoli 3-1 (2-1)/Lopez 15, Cancelo 17, Lewandowski 83 – Rrahmani 30/Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregateArsenal – Porto 1-0 (1-0)/Trossard 41/Arsenal win 4-2 on penaltiesWednesday the 13th23:00: (3.05) Atl.Madrid (3.30) Inter (2.55) /first leg 0-1/23:00: (2.15) Dortmund (3.50) PSV (3.30) / first leg 1-1/***odds are subject to change***
