Rio Ferdinand praises Mikel Arteta after full-time incident vs Porto

Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand heaped praise on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for keeping his cool following the full-time whistle against Porto last night.

The Gunners progressed to the Champions League quarter-final for the first time in 14 years following a penalty shoot-out win over the Portuguese outfit at home.

David Raya was the man of the match. He made a brilliant stop to deny Porto in the first half and was the eventual hero with two stunning saves during the shoot-out.

Following the game, Porto manager Sergio Conceicao tried to engage in a heated argument with Arteta, but the Spaniard stayed calm. He did not get influenced and walked away.

Ferdinand was impressed by the same and told TNT Sports (via BBC Sport): “This is football at the highest level, the stakes are high and yes the managers will disagree.”

“Mikel Arteta kept his cool. He didn’t engage in the full time incident, knew he had won the game, kept his cool and walked away.”

Arsenal suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss in the first leg of the round of 16 on the road. At the Emirates, there was a similar pattern with Porto defending with confidence.

However, the Gunners managed to break the deadlock right before the break. A brilliant through ball from Martin Odegaard paved the way for Leandro Trossard’s goal.

In the second half, the north London giants scored through Odegaard, but the goal was unfortunately chalked off as the referee deemed Kai Havertz to have fouled Pepe.

Neither side looked like scoring the winner in extra-time. Arsenal managed to prevail on penalties – something which they failed to do against Sporting in the Europa League last term.

The victory is a massive boost for the Gunners and they will be hoping to carry the momentum when they face Manchester City in the Premier League at the end of the month.