New Delhi [India], February 22 (ANI): Wenderson Galeno’s late stunner powered FC Porto to a 1-0 victory against Arsenal in the Round of 16 match of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) on Thursday at Estadio Do Dragao.
After the final whistle, FC Porto had a narrow advantage over the Gunners in the UCL round, following Galeno’s 94th-minute goal from outside the box.
Arsenal have performed stupendously in their previous two Premier League matches, scoring 11 goals. However, in the UCL match week, the Gunners displayed a sloppy performance in Portugal.
Just before the final whistle, Galeno received the ball outside the 35 yards, moved forward and placed a fiery long-range effort that beat the Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya and registered an advantage before the second leg in London.
Galeno had plenty of chances to give the Portuguese club the lead in the first half, but the Brazilian striker missed two sitters from inside the box.
The visitors also came close in the first half to score the opener, with William Saliba and Kai Havertz missing chances from the set pieces. Bukayo Saka also missed a chance just before the first half after his cross got deflected to the top of the bar.
Minutes into the second half, the visitors came close to taking the lead with Leandro Trossard’s shot from Declan Rice’s corner. However, the chance was wasted after the referee blew the whistle for a foul and ruled out Arsenal’s possibility of keeping an on-target shot.
As the game was heading into the added time, Porto tried to get the back of the net from a freekick but Arsenal’s defender Gabriel Magalhaes cleared the chance to keep the score 0-0.
With a 1-0 win in the first leg of the UCL’s Round of 16 game, FC Porto will now travel to London to lock horns with the Gunners in London on March 13. (ANI)
