David Raya the shootout hero as Arsenal sneak past Porto and into quarter-finals
It was ugly, extraordinarily tense, exponentially so. Everybody knew as the closing stages of regulation time ticked down that it would take just one moment to prise the warring parties apart, to deliver a defining victory. The feeling would only harden in extra time.
Mikel Arteta could feel the weight of history, his own as the Arsenal manager in European competition, even going back to his playing days at the club. Never before in five Europa League knockout ties as the manager at this stadium had he tasted victory – and there had been a few sobering reverses. More broadly, Arsenal had not made it to a Champions League quarter-final since 2009-10, losing in their previous seven last-16 ties. Arteta had been on the books as a midfielder for five of those.
