Arsenal’s penalty shootout victory against Porto on Tuesday not only snapped their Champions League last-16 jinx but could also fuel their belief as they try to hold off Liverpool and Manchester City in the English league title race.
David Raya’s two penalty saves ensured Arsenal reached the quarterfinals for the first time in 14 years after a tense tie against the two-time European champions ended 1-1 on aggregate.
It maintained the momentum that Mikel Arteta’s squad have built up with eight successive Premier League victories and keeps them chasing silverware on two fronts.
As the emotion poured out inside the Emirates it felt like a psychological turning point for Arsenal as they ended a run of seven successive last-16 exits in the Champions League.
With no FA Cup involvement this weekend and then the international break, Arsenal will not play again until March 31 when they go to Manchester City in a crunch title clash.
But after overcoming a crafty Porto side they will now head to City with renewed belief.
“The energy that it brings amongst the squad, amongst the club it’s really powerful. For them to do it when the club hasn’t done it for 14 years that tells you the difficulty,” Arteta, whose side have won eight successive Premier League games to edge ahead of Manchester City and Liverpool, told reporters.
“They are willing to sacrifice anything to win.”
Forward Bukayo Saka said the result sets Arsenal up perfectly for the rest of the season.
“Right now, we’re top of the league and we’re into the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and we’re going into the international break,” the England international said.
“This result gives us a lot of momentum, a lot of belief that we can go to the Etihad and get a good result.”
Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown said Arsenal’s progress to the quarterfinals of the Champions League will be a huge confidence boost in the run-in.
“It would have been a downer if they had lost this tonight and gone into the City game, of course they are out of the FA Cup, but now this keeps it ticking along beautifully,” he said. “The players grow from it, there’s a lot of confidence now.”
Arsenal will discover their quarterfinal opponents on Friday when they will join the likes of Man City, Paris St Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona in the draw.
Asked about the prospect of going one better than their sole final appearance in 2006, Arteta said: “I think it’s still very far. Now I’m going to sit at home, I’m going to look at the other teams we have to play and start another big mountain to climb.”