Arteta avoids ‘regret’ as Arsenal’s huge summer gamble takes them past 14-year obstacle

Mikel Arteta gambled a great deal of his stock and Arsenal’s enviable position on David Raya and Kai Havertz. They are Champions League quarter-finalists.

It was the perfect storm. As Arsenal supporters lost their collective nerve and minds over Mikel Arteta’s sudden reversion to his substitution aversion, Ally McCoist introduced an enticing thought to the equation and wondered whether the manager truly was a man of his word.

An awful lot of disingenuous, bad faith nonsense was espoused at the start of the season about Arsenal’s goalkeeping situation, not least by Arteta himself. He contributed to the mess of opinions in the great David Raya versus Aaron Ramsdale narrative by suggesting one of his “few regrets” as a manager was that he lacked the requisite minerals on two separate occasions to substitute his goalkeeper.

Arteta will have known he provided potential ammunition for the critics to take a future shot, yet few would have predicted it might be used against him so soon in a Champions League knockout tie, nor would they pretend the ruthless decision to change his No. 1 has been anything but a resounding success.

And as it was, the point was moot: Ramsdale’s penalty record is hardly stellar and certainly not markedly better than Raya’s, if at all. McCoist was having his usual fun and Arteta was not about to go all Louis van Gaal on Raya, particularly after he delivered perhaps the most tranquil, self-assured performance of any Arsenal player on a nerve-wracking evening.

His display in the shootout was no different, save for Brazilian midfielder Pepe and forgotten Liverpool son Marko Grujic finally breaching his goal when granted the overwhelming advantage of a free shot from 12 yards. Raya got a hand to the latter’s excellent attempt, tipped Wendell’s fine shot onto the post and finally thwarted Galeno to send Arsenal through to their first Champions League quarter-final in 14 years.

To think, if he had done the last of those three weeks ago then none of this would have been necessary. Silly really.

The Gunners were flawless in the Champions League’s first penalty shootout since the final of 2016, when Portuguese centre-half Pepe was booked during a wonderful show of dark arts mastery and defensive wizardry. Some things never do change for the 41-year-old.

He was truly magnificent and an unworthy loser whose timeless brilliance seemed unbreachable at times. It was the sort of occasion on which only something utterly breath-taking could have broken his resistance.

Step forward Martin Odegaard and a truly ludicrous assist. The footwork was sublime and the pass sumptuous, converted sweetly by Leandro Trossard to restore parity but not serenity. Arsenal remained in a European knockout tie and Porto seemed to take affront at the suggestion they might be blown away, as if nothing was learned from the first leg.

An inspired Sergio Conceicao engineered two of the finest tactical performances of the entire season. His side were seamlessly organised, disrupting Arsenal’s press with their shape, defending as one and attacking with purpose. The time-wasting elements were present – countless injuries and delayed throws chief among them – but only details in the wider picture of Porto’s quality and bravery.

It affected some Arsenal players more than others. William Saliba was dreadful in possession. Jorginho was ineffective and often exposed. Bukayo Saka could not get anything going. But Raya was superb, Jakub Kiwior was imposing, Kai Havertz carried out a thankless task admirably and Odegaard was inspirational. At least as many stepped up as were brought to their knees by Porto’s industry and ingenuity.

Thirty-three minutes felt early for the camera cut to a nervous fan in the stands watching through their fingers but it did capture the mood. Home players tried to gee up the supporters at every corner but the ease with which Porto dealt with all nine of them neatly summarised how much this felt like one of those games where things would not fall for an uncharacteristically poor Arsenal; the only question was who would make the telling mistake.

Arteta was the prime candidate as the clock ticked and the bench remained firm. Neither side made a change until Gabriel Jesus replaced Jorginho in the 83rd minute, but Porto subsequently called on five substitutes before Arsenal made their next one.

Jesus had an immediate impact and at least asked something different of a Porto side who had long been able to answer any Arsenal query proffered by actual knackered and nervous mortals, rather than the footballing deity Odegaard embodied briefly just before half-time. Neither Oleksandr Zinchenko nor Eddie Nketiah could replicate that in their 14 minutes, and in the end they had no part to play in the shootout either.

For that, Arteta trusted those who had brought Arsenal to that stage. Aside from Saka continuing to exorcise his penalty-based demons, those who repaid that faith were all individuals in whom the manager has arguably put the most stock: his captain, Odegaard; the mocked signing, Havertz; the £100m transformative addition, Rice; and the goalkeeper they “did not need”, Raya. They certainly needed him here.

It is through their composure and calm that it remains perfectly feasible we might witness the actual sign of Arsenal – still Premier League leaders, too – celebrating like they’ve won the Champions League. It doesn’t bear thinking about.