Arsenal pass a brutal rite of passage to overcome Porto’s spiky resilience | Arsenal
In the tip this was the right method for Arsenal to win this tie. Beating a Portuguese team on penalties. This appears like a type of hazing ritual, some brutal ceremony of passage, like operating up a frozen Munro with a bag stuffed with bricks in your again simply to make it extra particular. For a aspect that has been accused, by those that wish to accuse, of not being able to win, of being callow and excitable, there was one thing completely paced in regards to the stodginess of this Champions League last-16 second leg. To recreate the expertise of watching this recreation, merely rent 17 males wearing pink, blue and white to stage an unceasing 17‑man group wrestle on a bouncy fort, as sometimes a person in black peeps a whistle, somebody falls over, a bout of cramp occurs, members of the house crowd leap up and shout offended disconnected phrases. Porto have been powerful, leathery, gnarled, refusing to bend or tear. There’s simply one thing magnificent about their skill to cease soccer taking place. There was on the spot pop-up time-wasting, 4 minutes gone, fussicking over a throw. There was a stunning second as…