Wake up! Gunman!
In the early hours of this morning, Beijing time, the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals continued, and Arsenal lost 0-1 away to Porto, ending a five-game winning streak in all competitions.
In this game, Arteta sent Martinelli, Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka to form a front three, Odegaard, Havertz and Rice sat in the midfield, Ben White, Gabriel, Saliba and Kiwior lined up in the back, and goalkeeper Raya made his 26th appearance for the Gunners this season.
At the beginning, the Arsenal players who had not been in the knockout round of the Champions League for a long time looked a little nervous.
In the second minute of the game, Rice received a yellow card for recklessly infringing on the opposing winger Gareno, which was also his fourth yellow card this season in all competitions.
In the 18th minute, Rice took a free kick into the penalty area, and Porto goalkeeper Diogo Costa scrambled the ball out before Ben White scrambled for the top.
In the 23rd minute of the game, Porto took the lead, Cornesan Jr. broke through the cross on the side, Gareno volleyed at the post in front of the goal, and then missed the opportunity to make up the shot.
Arsenal's attack was overwhelmed by Porto's five-midfield diamond stance in the first half, and it wasn't until the 32nd minute that Trossard used a blind anti-aircraft gun to complete the Gunners' first shot of the game.
Arsenal were awarded a series of corners just before half-time, when Bukayo Saka lobbled the ball in front of goal and Havertz, who was lurking in the crowd, headed wide and missed the goal.
Yibian fought again, and the two teams continued to look for ways to break the goal.
In the 53rd minute, Martinelli broke through and crossed, and Odegaard volleyed from outside the box, but the ball was blocked by the Porto defenders.
Twelve minutes later, Porto launched a counter-attack, and the 26-year-old Brazilian striker Pepe Jr. deftly crossed from inside the box, and the follow-up Evanelson's shot was cleared by Rice, who was in time to fill in.
In the 73rd minute, Arsenal took the lead in making substitutions, with Jorginho replacing Trossard, who lacked a crosshair.
However, Jorginho's appearance did not bring significant vitality to Arsenal's weak attack, and both Kai Havertz-Saka and Martinelius were confused in front of the Porto penalty area.
If you don't score a goal, you will be punished!
Sure enough, in the 94th minute of the game, Porto launched the last wave of attacks, and Gareno, who was active in this game, burst to the front of the penalty area with the ball, and in the face of Rice's defense, he blasted a wonderful world wave, and the ball pierced directly into the gate of Raya Town like a flying knife, and Arsenal suffered a 0-1 defeat.
After conceding the goal, the Arsenal players were in agony, and Arteta on the sidelines was helpless.
With 65 possession and 10 corners, he was far ahead of his opponent, so why couldn't he knock on his opponent's door?
Thankfully, Mikel Arteta has room to make amends for the second leg next month, with Gabriel Jesus and Thomas likely to come out of injury and Arsenal with a more complete squad against Porto.
In the other game at the same time, Xavi's Barcelona drew 1-1 away at Napoli, with Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Osimhen contributing to their respective teams and returning to the Camp Nou in the middle of next month.