Arsenal have never had much luck in the Champions League. The closest they came to winning the trophy was back in 2006, when they suffered a heartbreaking final defeat to Barcelona, and they haven't reached the quarter-finals in 14 years.
The Gunners have actually lost all of their last six ties in the last 16, and Mikel Arteta is now facing an uphill battle to break that cycle. Porto beat Arsenal 1-0 in their first-leg clash on Wednesday, courtesy of a stunning 94th-minute strike from Brazilian winger Galeno.
“We don’t have the experience, that’s the reality – 95 percent of these players haven’t played this competition, they haven’t played the last 16," Arteta said before the game.
In fact, Kai Havertz was the only member of Arsenal's starting XI at Estadio Do Dragao to have featured in a Champions League knockout game. Arteta's exciting young side topped their group in impressive fashion, but the way they meekly surrendered in Porto suggests they're not ready to truly compete with the best.
It was same naivety Arsenal showed towards the end of last season, as they won just three of their final nine Premier League games to essentially gift Manchester City the Premier League title, having led the table for a record 248 days. Nothing has really changed since then, and another trophy-less season will be inevitable unless Arteta's men quickly develop some street smarts.