David Raya said it was a “great feeling” to help Arsenal into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years.
Goalkeeper Raya was Arsenal’s hero with two penalty saves as they won a shootout against Porto 4-2. Leandro Trossard’s goal four minutes before half-time levelled the tie at 1-1 on aggregate. Extra-time could not separate the sides and in the shoot-out, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz buried their penalties before Raya tipped Wendell’s spot-kick onto his left-hand post. Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice then converted and Raya made another fine save from Wenderson Galeno to send the Gunners through.
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“Obviously it’s a great feeling, especially for me personally – my first time in the Champions League and the first time in a long time club has got to the quarter-finals,” the Spaniard told TNT Sports, adding: “We’ve been working a lot on penalties this year because on a night like this you need to be good and the hard work has paid off. It’s a great night.
“I should have saved three, but I’m over the moon to save two and get through to the quarter-finals. Porto made it so difficult over there and here. But we scored the goal that we needed and it went to penalties. Obviously, mentally it’s tough but the team played really, really well, we kept a clean sheet, scored the goal, and went to penalties.”