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Fans on social media have slammed the Arsenal duo Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka for their lackluster performance against Porto in the Gunners' UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash on Wednesday, February 21.
Arsenal suffered a 1-0 defeat in Portugal, courtesy of Galeno's injury-time strike (90+4'). The English giants have to overcome the deficit in the second leg at the Emirates on March 12 to progress to the quarterfinals.
Despite seeing 65 percent of the possession, Mikel Arteta's side had zero shots on target against Porto. Fans are blaming the two wingers, Martinelli and Saka, citing they didn't create enough.
One of them wrote on X:
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"Martinelli and Saka were atrocious. May need to rename your Sakanelli score rating on wingers. We are going to need a winger of a completely different profile and way less predictable."
Another fan commented:
"Bro… we don’t have a people on the bench. Martinelli didn’t deserve to play 90mins, same as Saka."
Here are some other reactions after Arsenal's defeat against Porto:
Mikel Arteta expresses frustration at Arsenal's performance against Porto
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was far from happy with how his team performed against Porto.
Arteta noted that the Gunners lacked attacking intent and failed to create any substantial pressure on Porto's backline. He added that Arsenal need to do better to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Arteta said (via football.london):
"Very disappointed in the way we gave the game away at the end. If you cannot win it don’t lose it. We dominated the game, but we lacked purpose to generate much more threat in their backline. We will learn from it. It’s half time. If you want to be in the QFs you have to beat your opponent."
Arsenal were knocked out of the Europa League by Sporting CP last season. They need significant improvement in the second leg at the Emirates to avoid a similar fate in the Champions League this season.
