Champions League: Mikel Arteta bemoans Arsenal’s lack of aggression

FC Porto midfielder Wenderson Galeno celebrates while Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard looks dejected following their Champions League last 16 match. Picture: Patricia de Melo Moreira / AFP

FC Porto midfielder Wenderson Galeno celebrates while Arsenal midfielder Martin Odegaard looks dejected following their Champions League last 16 match. Picture: Patricia de Melo Moreira / AFP

Published Feb 22, 2024

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Key quotes from the two UEFA Champions League last 16 first-leg ties on Wednesday between Porto and Arsenal and Napoli against Barcelona.

"We want to be in the quarter-finals, you have to beat your opponent and this is what we have to do at the Emirates. We lacked threat, we lacked much more threat, more aggression, especially when we had the ball in the final third ... so we will tweak a few things to attack better. We can do better."

- Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta after the 1-0 defeat at Porto.

"It's a sucker punch. Maybe it comes down to experience, I hope it doesn't come back to haunt them."

- Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown on TNT after Porto scored a stoppage-time winner.

"I'm sad, because we should have won this match. I have nothing to reproach my team, I saw a team which defended well and attacked well, but our goal paradoxically woke up Napoli."

- Barcelona coach Xavi after the 1-1 draw at Napoli.

"Everything is alive, we are going home with great enthusiasm, but we leave with a bitter feeling because we could have left here with a victory."

- Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo.

"I congratulated my players, because they reacted well and they finished strong. Until the end, they believed they could win this match, their state of mind against a very strong opponent pleased me a lot."

- Napoli coach Francesco Calzona.

AFP