Arsenal beats Porto on penalties

Arsenal’s 14-year wait for a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals is over, thanks largely to David Raya’s penalty saves.

Raya tipped one spot kick by Porto’s Wendell against the post and then palmed away another from Galeno to secure a 4-2 win in a penalty shootout on Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium.

It ended a long streak of roundof-16 losses for Arsenal, which had been eliminated at this stage in its last seven appearances in the competition but won 1-0 to level the aggregate score at 1-1.

And it was a massive moment for Raya, who was brought in last summer to replace Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal’s No. 1, a decision that has been frequently questioned by the club’s supporters this season.

“Obviously it’s a great feeling for me personally, first time in the Champions League and for the club to get into the quarterfinals for the first time in so many years,” Raya said. “We’ve worked a lot on penalties this year and all the hard work with the goalie coach and the team has paid off.”

It was the first penalty shootout in the Champions League since the 2016 final won by Real Madrid against Atletico Madrid.

Arsenal trailed 1-0 from the first leg in Portugal — when Galeno scored the winner deep into stoppage time — but went level through Leandro Trossard’s 41st-minute goal. Neither side could find another goal despite extra time as Porto’s disciplined defensive tactics largely held Arsenal at bay.

“We really had to dig in to find the magic moment at the end,” said Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, whose team is also top of the Premier League.

David Raya was brought in last summer to replace Aaron Ramsdale as Arsenal’s No. 1 keeper, a decision that has been frequently questioned by the club’s supporters

Barcelona 3, Napoli 1

Barcelona returned to the quarterfinals for the first time in four years thanks to goals from Fermín López, João Cancelo and Robert Lewandowski. Barcelona advanced 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Italy three weeks ago.

Amir Rrahmani scored for Napoli, which couldn’t repeat its last-eight appearance from last season.

Barcelona had been eliminated in the group stage the last two years and hadn’t reached the quarterfinals since 2019-20.

The other teams that have advanced to the last eight include Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City.