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FC Porto crash to bruising defeat at Arsenal

Arsenal 4-0 FC Porto

FC Porto suffered their heaviest Champions League defeat for eleven years as the Portuguese champions were hammered by Arsenal on a miserable night in London.

A brace apiece from Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor consigned Jesualdo Ferreira’s men to a crushing defeat, and in truth things could have been much worse for the visitors as Arsenal missed several second-half chances to add to their tally.

Ferreira was forced to start the match without influential captain Lucho Gonzalez, who was not deemed fit enough for a place in the starting line-up and had to settle for a seat on the bench. The Argentine did emerge for the second half, but by that point much of the damage had been done as a fragile Porto defence was ruthlessly exposed by the English side.

Early Porto chances

Arsenal dominated possession for much of the game and went close with early chances for Theo Walcott and van Persie, but Porto will feel aggrieved that they did not make the best of a brief flurry of excellent chances during the first half.

First Cristian Rodriguez rattled the crossbar with a diving header from a Tomas Costa cross, following a swift counter-attack, before Lisandro Lopez threatened the Arsenal goal. Freddy Guarin found the Argentine hitman twenty-five metres from goal, and Lisandro let fly with a ferocious drive which Manuel Almunia pushed to safety.

From the following corner, Lisandro should have done better when gifted an opportunity from close range, but last season’s top goalscorer saw his weak effort blocked by Gael Clichy.

However, it would be Arsenal who got the all-important first goal, coming as it did on the half hour. Cesc Fabregas rolled the ball through to Adebayor, who pulled it back for van Persie to score from close-range. The Gunners made it two before the break, with van Persie returning the favour by delivering a corner for Adebayor to head past Helton.

Porto will have felt aggrieved, having missed some good opportunities, to go into the break 2-0 down, but the second period was a far more one-sided affair, and even the introduction of Lucho could not prevent Ferreira’s men from being torn apart at times by Arsenal’s slick attacking play.

Porous defence

The second half was less than three minutes old when the Gunners effectively sealed the victory. Theo Walcott, who would cause the visiting defence countless problems with his pace in the second half, slipped a ball through to van Persie, and the Dutchman took advantage of poor defending to grab his second of the evening.

The Porto backline looked worryingly devoid of confidence and organisation, and Walcott should have put his name on the score sheet five minutes later, before outpacing Bruno Alves and setting up Samir Nasri to somehow miss from a matter of metres out.

Inevitably, Porto’s only real chance of the second forty-five minutes came thanks to some superb assist play from captain Lucho. The Argentine threaded a precise ball through to compatriot Tomas Costa inside the area, but the summer recruit hurried his finish and failed to hit the target.

Ferreira threw on Hulk in place of Raul Meireles, but the Brazilian had been on the pitch a matter of five minutes before seeing his side concede a needless penalty. Fellow recent signing Guarin was correctly penalised for an impatient hack on Nicolas Bendtner, and Adebayor doubled his tally by sending Helton the wrong way and slotting the ball to the Brazilian’s left.

Arsenal missed a glut of chances in the final twenty minutes, most notably with Adebayor missing a superb chance to seal his hat-trick, before the referee called an end to the evening with no additional time, allowing Porto to bring a much welcome end to a nightmare evening at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal:
Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott (Vela 71), Fabregas, Denilson, Nasri (Eboue 64), Van Persie (Bendtner 64), Adebayor
Yellow Cards: Clichy

FC Porto:
Helton, Sapunaru, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Benitez, Guarin, Costa, Fernando (Lucho Gonzalez 46), Raul Meireles (Hulk 64), Rodriguez (Candeias 79), Lopez
Yellow Cards: Tomas Costa

Goals:
[1-0], Van Persie, 31’
[2-0] Adebayor, 40’
[3-0] Van Persie, 48’
[4-0] Adebayor, 71’ (pen)