Champions League: At 41, Pepe is still a top dog as Conceição blasts Arteta

Almost an hour into a tie that burned imperceptibly until its unlikely late combustion, Arsenal were treated to a glimpse of exactly who was in charge. They had won possession just outside Porto’s penalty area and Kai Havertz, advancing with purpose, saw a chance to play Gabriel Martinelli through. Instead, the ball ended up with Pepe, gimlet-eyed and perfectly positioned. Seconds later he had carried it 30 yards up the pitch before sliding a precise pass through the midfield to Evanilson, sending the hosts away once again. There was a sense he could have done it all again with a blindfold.

On Monday, Pepe will turn 41. Blowing out all those candles may take more exertion than a pallid Arsenal attack demanded but that moment of authority, the brushing aside of nascent threat, the upright strut that has been a feature of elite football for two decades, spoke of the bigger picture.

Arsenal’s past failures in the last 16 have been intricately documented but there had justifiably been high anticipation around their return. In the event, they failed to land a blow on Pepe and Porto: old dogs who had little attention to standing around to watch new tricks.

Long after Arsenal had made haste down the tunnel, Porto’s players huddled in a circle while Estádio Do Dragão’s choirs went through the repertoire of club anthems. The song for Mikel Arteta was rather more familiar: perhaps a footballing equivalent of the melancholic fado ballads that echo around some of the local bars.

It is a tune that laments naivety and foggy decision-making against continental opponents schooled in the art of setting traps. Arteta heard it often enough as a player in north London and after Martinelli sought Bukayo Saka with a needless Hollywood pass in the final minute of added time, it struck up again. The Porto goalkeeper, Diogo Costa, had spoken cryptically of exposing Arsenal’s weaknesses and Galeno honoured the promise by arcing a thrilling finish around David Raya.

 Costa’s optimism apart, the noise around Porto had been profoundly negative in the buildup. They are currently passengers in the Portuguese title race and the long-serving Sérgio Conceição, a rival to Arteta in the touchline expressiveness stakes, has felt the wrath of their support. Lore had it that they were not up to the level of knockout Champions League football this time. As proceedings unfolded, that became irrelevant. Porto have passed the group stage seven times in the last decade: if nothing else, they knew the level intimately.

That knowledge helped Conceição, no longer one of Europe’s bright young coaches at 49 but still a formidable operator, win the battle of strategies against his counterpart. Porto were compact, athletic, quick to close space, and happy to test Arsenal on the counter. While Pepe, who made up for the lack of a center-forward to needle by contributing to penalty box chaos at the visitors’ set pieces, purred at the back there were impressive exhibitions of ball carrying from his 26-year-old namesake further upfield. Conceição knew Porto would have to pick their moments but they retained a threat all evening.

Meanwhile, Conceicao has hit back at Arteta’s suggestion that his team had ‘no intention of playing’.

When asked about Porto’s tactics, Arteta said after Arsenal’s defeat: ‘We are very used to playing against these defensive blocks, especially in the first half we lacked certain things.

‘We will learn from it and be better in the return game.

‘The best thing about our team was the attitude. We wanted to play. We didn’t lack aggression. Faced with such a low block and a team with no intention of playing, this is what we have to do.’

When asked about Arteta’s assessment on Porto’s approach to the game, said: ‘It’s an opinion. They wanted to play, we wanted to win.

‘Arteta is from the [Pep] Guardiola school, who is the coach with the most titles in the world.

 ‘They think that the best way to beat their opponents is to have more possession of the ball, but that depends on the team and the performers they have.

‘We had 40%-60% possession of the ball, which is not a scandal. I didn’t mind having 30%-70% and winning too. It all depends on what you do with the ball within the strategy defined to score goals.’