What promised to be a tough game lived up to it, without ever truly threatening to burst into life. Nonetheless, the home side signaled their attacking intentions by firing off their first shot inside 30seconds, just missing Lehmann’s near post.
On 12mins, Bojinov saw his snapshot from just outside the area just clear the crossbar. Three minutes later, he turned provider when, having drifted out wide, he sent in a deflected cross that home ‘keeper Hélton made a hash of collecting and Henry, fending off Índio, was on hand to bundle home the ball. Not the prettiest goal our talisman has scored on the continent, but important nonetheless, especially as it was an away one.
A neat passing move saw Porto cleave through our midfield but Anderson’s shot from outside the area was comfortably collected by Lehmann. They came back with a free kick, which Eboué did well to intercept before springing Bojinov with a well-weighted pass, who dribbled into the box to force Hélton into a save. Macquet was on-hand to clear the rebound before any Arsenal attackers could arrive on the scene.
Neto Poitiguar sent a header wide on the half-hour as the home side struggled to impose themselves. But inside the final 10mins they fashioned their best chance as Raúl Bravo intercepted a poor Eboué throw-in to set up Anderson, who neatly passed to playmaker Diego in the box. The Brazilian didn’t have a second to settle as Yobo immediately dispossessed him with a monster tackle; however Anderson picked up the rebound and found Benni McCarthy on the penalty spot, back to goal, and the South African international spun and somehow contrived to scoop his effort hopelessly over the bar – it was a major warning and let-off for us.
In the last minute of regulation time in the half, Henry picked up a Cole pass and drifted out wide before floating a far-post cross for Bojinov, but Hélton produced a magnificent point-blank save from the Bulgarian’s header. But in the first minute of added time, Porto came back with another great chance, as McCarthy beat Yobo to a cross into the box to force Lehamann into an equally stunning save; the offside flag was up either way.
The second half began with even more drama as, within a minute of the restart, Índio’s poor clearance from an attempted Gilberto pass to Henry fell kindly for Bojinov to steamroll past the defense and test Hélton with a venomous shot. The shot-stopper earned his keep by parrying, but Henry won the race to the rebound and, admittedly under pressure from just inside the area, contrived to dispatch his shot at the empty net against the near post. The ball rebounded across the goalmouth for Bojinov to reclaim, back to goal, and spin to shoot past the still advanced Hélton – but Índio, the man who started the whole debacle, was on-hand to clear off the line! In all reality, it should have been 2-0 to the Arsenal!
It proved a major turning point as 3 short minutes later Porto launched a lightning break down our left, with Benni McCarthy and Neto Potiguar linking up fabulously for the latter to slip the former’s cut-back in to Diego, who unleashed a neat curler into Lehmann’s top corner to level the game.
We were clearly rattled as, from a free kick that Gilberto conceded and got booked for, Índio dribbled out wide before lofting a cross into the box for Benni McCarthy to collect and volley home first time – but once again the flag was raised and the goal disallowed for offside.
That seemed to wake us up, as I hauled off Fabregas – who had been doing well, mind you – for Iaquinta, bringing Bojinov back into midfield to inject further pace on the right to compliment Ryan Smith’s on the left. The move paid almost immediate dividends: Touré headed clear a pass to Hleb, who swiveled to find Bojinov, getting his head onto the pass just ahead of his marker to send through Iaquinta on goal. Hélton rushed out to close him down and, in a moment of astute awareness and immense unselfishness, Iaquinta fed the ball out left for Henry, leaving Hélton stranded and helpless. The Frenchman didn’t take a simple punt on goal, possibly rattled by his earlier miss, as he opted to instead round the rapidly retreating Índio before slotting home from close range to double Porto’s woes and his tally.
Off the restart, Touré cleared a long ball to Eboué, who launched a long pass of his own for Iaquinta to flick into the path of Hleb, and he in turn flicked a pinpoint pass over the defense onto Henry on the edge of the area, but his typical calm seemed to abandon him as he sent a shot wide and into orbit.
With 20mins to go, we fashioned another fine move as Bojinov, Iaquinta and Hleb combined to find Ryan Smith on the left, who drifted to the edge of the area before curling a pass past the defense and into Henry, who looked destined to score before his shot deflected off China, who was paying close attention to him, taking the sting off it for a grateful Hélton to catch.
Índio’s free kick from the left channel 5mins later found Benni McCarthy on the spot, as he somehow evaded the attentions of both Yobo and Hleb to fire on goal, but Lehmann blocked wonderfully and Cole cleared desperately to concede the corner.
The home side launched a dangerous counter in the last minute of regulation time as they cleared from a free kick, and Benni McCarthy stole down the left to whip in a cross to the far post, where an unmarked Anderson collected and shot, but Lehmann produced a magnificent save to deny him point-blank.
A mad dash in our area, set off by some slick Porto passing, ended anticlimactically as Anderson shot wide when well-placed. There was to be no last-minute saving goal, and Porto face a daunting trip to Ashburton Grove as firm underdogs to overturn this reverse.
POR 1 (Diego 50’)
ARS 2 (Henry 16’, 68’)
ARSENAL TEAM RATINGS: Jens Lehmann: 8 – Emmanuel Eboué: 7, Kolo Abib Touré: 8, Joseph Yobo: 8, Ashley Cole: 7 – Francesc Fabregas: 8 (Vincenzo Iaquinta [65’]: 8), Aliaksandr Hleb: 8 (Mathieu Flamini [78’]: 6), Gilberto Silva: 8, Ryan Smith: 7 – Valeri Bojinov: 8 (Fredrik Ljungberg [72’]: 6), Thierry Henry: 9
MoM: Thierry Henry (ST, Arsenal)
Yellow Cards: Benni McCarthy, China (POR); Gilberto Silva, Ryan Smith, Joseph Yobo (ARS)
