Breaking News: Arsenal’s Champions League truth is clear amid worrying Mikel Arteta record

Concerning Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal record is highlighted by a change in UEFA rules amid the Champions League draw.

Mikel Arteta will have ample time to prepare as Arsenal takes on Porto in the round of 16 of the Champions League early in the following year.

Arsenal are hoping to reach the quarter-final of this season’s UEFA Champions League. (Image: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)

Arsenal, paired with Porto in the UEFA Champions League round of 16, is returning to Portugal to begin a new European journey.

For the first time since the 2009–10 campaign, many observers rank the Gunners as the favorites to advance past the last-16 stage on paper. But if the previous season and Mikel Arteta’s performance in knockout football are any guide, fans shouldn’t start daydreaming about making it to the quarterfinals just yet.

Although the North London team should easily defeat Porto, the same could be said of their draw against Sporting CP at the same stage of the Europa League the previous season, when UEFA’s decision to eliminate the away goals rule ultimately proved costly for the Spaniard and his team.

A week later, after a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes and extra time wasn’t the necessary result on the night to qualify for the next round, Arsenal still had it all to do in the decider at the Emirates Stadium. It came down to penalties, and the visitors won.

This upcoming tie is far from a done deal, and Arteta is well aware of how tough it is to win away from home in European competition. “We are on a journey still, a lot of games to play for, a lot things can happen,” he said after his side defeated Sevilla 2-1 at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium on matchday three. Keep in mind that the Gunners have lost twice in their three attempts to win at the Estadio do Dragao.

It demonstrates how challenging it is to win in the Champions League, particularly when playing away from home. You won’t have many opportunities to create in the Champions League, so you must be ruthless. I thought the team played with a lot of bravery and determination in a stadium like this. It was a significant milestone for us.

Reaching the later stages of the Champions League is another significant accomplishment for Arsenal. However, Arteta’s own track record in knockout matches as Arsenal manager, which now stands after last season’s matchups with Sporting CP, could worry him ahead of the round of 16 match: P: 12, W: 4, D: 5, L: 3.

The fact that three of those four victories—against Olympiacos twice in consecutive Europa League campaigns and the second leg of the quarterfinal match against Slavia Prague in the 2020–21 season—came away from home is perhaps the most concerning indication of all.

It’s interesting to note that, despite being officially named as the “home” team for the round of 32 second leg matchup between the Gunners and Benfica in February 2021, the match was forced to take place at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece due to Covid-19 restrictions. This means that none of Arteta’s competition knockout round victories have taken place at the Emirates Stadium.

Even though the North London team’s record will almost definitely need to be improved if they hope to win the European championship in June 2024, it is encouraging that Arteta’s lone and only “home” victory in a European knockout match came against a Portuguese team.

Strangely, Arsenal’s last Champions League round of 16 victory came against Porto in the aforementioned 2009–10 campaign, when they defeated them 6-2 on aggregate primarily because of an incredible five-goal second-leg performance. Fourteen years later, Arteta knows exactly what needs to happen for history to repeat itself.