Arteta praises his players, coaches, fans and Raya

After ending a 14-year wait for us to reach another Champions League quarter-finals, Mikel Arteta was full of thanks to everyone who played their part on and off the field.

We edged past Porto on penalties after Leandro Trossard’s goal gave us a 1-0 win on the night, with David Raya saving the crucial spot-kick from Galeno to book our spot in the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2010 - ironically when Porto were also our victims.

And Mikel was delighted to find a way past the Portuguese giants to create another incredible night in north London to add to his growing collection, but he was sure to pass the praise onto everyone he works with day-to-day.

Revealing his emotions post-match, he said: “I’m so happy, I’m so proud, especially for the club. It’s been 14 years not achieving the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and that’s a long time. It shows you how difficult it is to do it.

“A big credit to the boys for what they have done today and to everybody that turned up in the stadium and from their homes, bringing that incredible energy into the stadium to help us win the game.
 
“It was very difficult to get constant momentum in the game, with the way they play, credit to them. We knew that that was going to be the case, we had to be really patient and emotionally controlled, and wait for the moments. We were going to have moments and, in those moments, we had to put them away and we’ve done that.”

The shootout success saw us convert all four of our penalties, with our opponents only able to score twice, with one striking the post and the other saved by Raya to finally end the contest.

After seeing us succeed in penalty shootout scenarios during pre-season and in the Community Shield, the boss was delighted that the research and practice once again paid off.

“That’s one part of the preparation that we’ve done in the last few days. A big credit to the coaches, and the goalkeeping coach for all the way that they’ve done it, and at the end, we got rewarded.

“What [David has] done through the game as well, how composed he looks, how secure – it’s the first big game that he’s played in his career in the Champions League. In the end, he looked that way and the way the other boys took the penalties, the body language, the composure, the quality, it was second to none.

“We all deserve a few days off and recharge the batteries. 90 per cent of the squad will be on international duty afterwards and there we go, we go again.”