Posted by According to FC Porto defender Pepe, the team’s goal in Tuesday’s Champions League match was to “neutralise” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard.
Leandro Trossard scored in the first half at the Emirates Stadium to square the match on aggregate after Porto won the first leg 1-0.
After regulation time, neither team could pull ahead, forcing a penalty shootout.
To advance to the quarterfinals, the Gunners needed David Raya to save two penalty kicks.
The player who set up Trossard’s goal, Odegaard, was themselves tried to stop by Pepe, who made the confession in retrospect.
We don’t forget that Arsenal are a terrific club; they score a lot of goals in the Premier League,” he told DAZN.
Our goal in coming here was to counter Odegaard’s line-to-line play. We were well-prepared, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net. They struck it rich.