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Mikel Arteta said the dream of Arsenal winning the club’s first-ever Champions League at Wembley is in his players’ minds as they make a long-awaited return to the knockout stages at Porto on Wednesday.
The Gunners have not reached the last 16 of the Champions League for seven years and last made it to the quarter-finals back in 2010.
However, they are in supreme form having smashed 21 goals in five Premier League wins since returning from a two-week winter break last month.
And there is the extra carrot for Champions League success this season with the final taking place in their home city of London at Wembley.
“It would be incredible to have that feeling to lift that cup in London on the 1st of June,” Arteta told his pre-match press conference in northern Portugal.
“It’s there, it’s in our minds, and it’s a dream but it’s a lot of things that you have to earn the right before that, and tomorrow we’re going to have a big obstacle ahead of us.”
Arteta’s squad is short on Champions League experience, but the Spaniard said they have the belief that they can mix it with Europe’s best.
“It’s great we have earned the right to be here. It’s been seven years since we’ve been at this table for this kind of match and 14 years since we’ve been able to go to the next stage,” added Arteta.
“That’s the challenge, that’s what is ahead of us and we are really excited to face it, and to go for it with full belief.
“It’s true we don’t have the experience, that’s the reality – 95 percent of the players have not played in this competition (before this season).
“They have never played in the last 16, I haven’t (as a coach), but we have so much enthusiasm and energy as well, and willingness with a point to prove that we are good enough and want to be there.
“That’s our desire and the passion with which we’re going to play the game tomorrow.”
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Serie A has told potential organisers of a European Super League of its opposition to the breakaway competition, Italy’s top football league said Wednesday.
A meeting was held on Wednesday between Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo and his counterpart at A22, who are promoting a competition outside of UEFA’s control for the continent’s top clubs.
Serie A said that the meeting was at “A22’s request” in an unsuccessful attempt to get the league onside with their plans.
“We are in agreement with European football’s other top leagues,” said De Siervo in a statement.
“I underlined our opposition to the Super League project, in line with previous announcements on the subject in 2019, 2021 and 2023.”
Announced to great surprise in 2021 by 12 clubs, including Italy’s big three of Inter Milan, Juventus and AC Milan, the first Super League project collapsed after outrage from fans of the English clubs involved and threats from governing bodies UEFA and FIFA.
Within 48 hours of that announcement nine of the 12 rebel clubs — including six from the Premier League — backed down.
Only Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona are still publicly attached to the Super League project, designed as a closed competition intended to supplant the UEFA’s flagship Champions League competition.
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Where did that come from?
In a dreary match trundling its way toward a seemingly inevitable goalless draw, Galeno made the Estadio do Dragao erupt with a beautiful long-range curler. Although Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya’s positioning will be questioned, there’s no doubting the quality of the Brazilian winger’s 94th-minute strike.
FC Porto will now take a 1-0 advantage to north London for the second leg on March 12.
(Available to view in U.S. only)
PORTO STUN ARSENAL IN THE 94TH MINUTE ?? pic.twitter.com/dtirILHRcA
— CBS Sports Golazo ?? (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 21, 2024
(Available to view in Canada only)
GALENO WINS IT FOR PORTO IN THE FINAL MINUTE ?#UCL pic.twitter.com/QtQcOtwY9M
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) February 21, 2024
Wednesday’s match was largely dross before Galeno’s golazo.
Arsenal had scored 21 goals over their previous five matches in all competitions but failed to register a shot on target in Portugal. Mikel Arteta’s only substitution – Jorginho replacing Leandro Trossard in the 74th minute – suggested the Spanish manager was fine with taking a draw into the reverse fixture.
Porto, meanwhile, only hit the target once through Evanilson before Galeno’s immense effort. However, Galeno had the clearest cut chance of the match much earlier when he hit the post and then somehow sent the rebound wide with the goal gaping.
Everyone had to wait, and wait, for Galeno to spectacularly make amends deep into added time.
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The Champions League round of 16 rumbled on with four more first-leg matches this week. Below, we dissect the biggest talking points from the quartet of intriguing fixtures.
A battle of fallen titans
On paper, a meeting between the current titleholders in Spain and Italy would be fitting of a Champions League final. What a treat, then, to get exactly that matchup in the round of 16. Except, Barcelona and Napoli are totally unrecognizable from the teams that dominated their respective domestic leagues and romped to trophies in 2022-23.
Though Barcelona dictated play for the bulk of Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, they lacked precision in key moments and any sort of cutting edge until Robert Lewandowski’s clinical finish opened the scoring on the hour mark. Playing against a hesitant team on its third manager of the season, Barca should have taken a stranglehold on the tie from there. Instead, an untimely gamble by Inigo Martinez gifted Victor Osimhen an equalizer that Napoli otherwise looked incapable of finding. It was an all-too-familiar failing for Barca, who’ve been defensively suspect all season after being so resolute during their title-winning campaign.
Jonathan Moscrop / Getty Images Sport / Getty
For all of Barcelona’s issues, Napoli are in an even more worrying state of disrepair. Enduring one of the worst title defenses in recent memory – they’re ninth in Serie A, sitting 27 points off the league lead – Napoli made another coaching change just 48 hours before Wednesday’s match, replacing Walter Mazzarri with former assistant Francesco Calzona. Anybody expecting an immediate “new manager bounce” will have been left disappointed.
The team still looks disjointed. The backline remains unconvincing without Kim Min-jae. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, while dogged as ever, isn’t taking over games like he did during his sensational breakout season. Stanislav Lobotka isn’t getting on the ball as often at the base of midfield. Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa looks a little jaded. Even Osimhen, making his first club appearance in 2024 after returning from AFCON, spent much of the match throwing his arms up in frustration – he had just three touches inside the Barca penalty area and had the fewest touches overall of any player who started the contest. His goal was Napoli’s lone shot on target in the match. He took that one chance with composure, though, and Napoli will hope that his return, along with more time getting comfortable working in Calzona’s system, will be the catalyst for a late-season surge. It needs to be.
Inter built for another run at European glory
Simone Inzaghi has turned Inter Milan into an unstoppable force to begin 2024.
Inter have dominated their opponents in Italy to start the year, putting themselves in prime position to capture their first Scudetto of the Inzaghi era after eight consecutive victories in all competitions – including six in Serie A – before Tuesday’s meeting with Atletico Madrid. That run included victories over Lazio, Napoli, Fiorentina, Juventus, and Roma.
They kept it going on Tuesday with a 1-0 win.
While Inter were widely expected to emerge victorious from Tuesday’s contest, the match was gritty and unfolded how Inzaghi might’ve expected when he predicted his squad would have to be “good enough to react to problems” against Diego Simeone’s notoriously tricky Atletico side.
Inter’s stellar play comes after the club was heavily criticized on the heels of its run to the Champions League final for a lack of inspired signings amid financial problems last summer. But now, it’s hard to envisage this team without Marcus Thuram – who, as a free transfer, has been one of the best signings in all of Europe and formed a lethal partnership with Lautaro Martinez. New faces Benjamin Pavard and Yann Sommer have been excellent, too, while Carlos Augusto has been a key contributor off the bench.
Alessandro Sabattini / Getty Images Sport / Getty
However, it was another shrewd signing who helped take down Atletico. Journeyman striker Marko Arnautovic was brought on to replace Thuram, who exited at halftime with an injury. The 34-year-old – on loan from Bologna – should’ve had a hat-trick during his cameo appearance but missed twice from just yards away before banging in the eventual winning goal to send the San Siro into a frenzy.
Inter are perfectly positioned going into the final months of the season. Mowing down the competition domestically and building a healthy nine-point cushion atop Serie A, the Nerazzurri could opt to rest some stars in the coming weeks in order to throw everything they have into winning the return leg in Madrid next month and, in their ideal world, go one step further than last season in the Champions League.
Quick free-kicks
A victory for Porto and away-goal enthusiasts
Galeno’s goal was a moment of superb vision and immaculate execution, but it arguably wasn’t worth the wait for anybody who’s not an FC Porto fan. Porto and Arsenal had one shot on target between them before the Brazilian winger scored the only goal of Wednesday’s contest. Both teams feared making mistakes. The Gunners – who had struck 21 times across their previous five fixtures in all competitions – deliberately slowed the game while they dawdled during dead-ball situations and disappointingly refused to dip into their usually creative and effective repertoire of set-piece routines. It’s hard to imagine that the visitors would’ve been so conservative if the away-goal rule was still in force: A scoring draw would’ve been much more valuable than the 0-0 that Mikel Arteta appeared to be content with. In the end, Arsenal’s game plan backfired.
Galeno top of the pile
Michael Regan / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Still, that was some goal by Galeno. “When the opportunity arose, I didn’t hesitate,” he told DAZN post-match. The Brazilian winger is now leading this season’s Champions League with eight goal contributions (five goals and three assists), narrowly beating the English quartet of Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Bukayo Saka (seven involvements apiece). Galeno’s output in Europe proves he’s capable of hurting opponents in a variety of ways. Across two group stage meetings with Shakhtar Donetsk, he was alert to convert three close-range finishes, twice furiously ran down the flank before assisting Mehdi Taremi, smashed in a venomous shot from the edge of the box, and his near-post flick-on from a corner set up a Pepe tap-in. And now, he’s outdone all of his previous work with an outrageous effort that puts Arsenal’s Champions League bid under threat.
PSV can get famous result in Germany
PSV Eindhoven were in control for much of Tuesday’s visit from Borussia Dortmund so were rightly disappointed with their 1-1 draw. Ex-PSV favorite Donyell Malen opened the scoring with an explosive strike that rocketed in off the bar, but the hosts could’ve responded with more than Luuk de Jong’s equalizer from the penalty spot. Dortmund cowered in the atmosphere. “We should have brought much more calmness to the game. We let the heated atmosphere get to us too much,” Dortmund defender Mats Hummels admitted after the match. PSV should still feel encouraged going into the second leg despite Dortmund’s home advantage: The German side’s excellent group stage display was an unexpected boost during a frustrating domestic campaign, while the Dutch outfit has lost just twice across all competitions – away at Arsenal and Feyenoord – and is 10 points clear atop the Eredivisie.
Stat of the week
Signing of the season? Sommer’s arrival from Bayern Munich didn’t set pulses racing, but the 35-year-old has ensured Inter haven’t missed Andre Onana between the sticks.
Yann Sommer has now kept seven more clean sheets (21) than he has conceded goals (14) across all competitions for Inter this season. ? pic.twitter.com/0f2pRADBcm
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 20, 2024
Tweet of the week
Is it already time to revisit this rule change? (Yes, it is.)
if only there was some kind of rule that encouraged away teams to attack more https://t.co/QVmP4Y44qf