The first leg of the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 in the early hours of Thursday morning (22nd) was a cold one, with Premier League giants Arsenal, who have always been renowned for their strong attacking power, suddenly losing the match with only 7 shots, all of them missing the target, and for the first time in nearly 2 years, there were no shots on target in any of the matches, and the biggest wok was the 4-minute extra time conceded goal.
The two teams are traditionally known for their pleasant kicking style, but this battle has changed the norm, the performance is very rough, the opening minute, Arsenal midfielder Dee Glen Rice because of shoveling opponents, was shown a yellow card by the referee. Afterwards, both sides into a melee, kicked to 21 minutes first to appear more attractive offensive, Porto wing Galenu shot hit the post popped out, it then make-up shots to the post out of bounds, missed the golden opportunity. Arsenal had to wait until the 32nd minute to have the first shot on goal, Lee Ando Duchate kicked high.
After the change of sides, the game became stalemate, with both sides having even less offense, and the Arsenal had only two shots on goal in the second half. In the extra time, which was the most exciting time of the game, Galenu scored a long-distance shot from outside the penalty box, and Porto narrowly beat Arsenal 1-0 with the goal in the world, and the Arsenal's five-match winning streak in all competitions snapped.
Even though the ball possession rate was 65%, they lacked the fighting spirit to win the game. After the EFL Cup in January 2022, they recorded the embarrassing statistic of 0 shots on goal in the whole game again. The netizens mocked the Arsenal for suffering from "UEFA knockout stage phobia" because they have lost 5 consecutive UEFA knockout stage matches including this one, so it is no wonder that they are being looked at to go out of the competition.
