Arsenal certainly did things the hard way on Tuesday evening.

After a far from perfect display against Porto in their Champions League last 16 second leg, the Gunners did eventually book their ticket to the next round of Europe’s most prestigious cup competition.

However, Mikel Arteta’s side needed penalties to do so despite their 1-0 victory on the night, with Arsenal unable to turn around their one-goal deficit from the first leg over the course of 120 nerve-wracking minutes.

But progression is everything in knockout football and Arsenal won’t care too much about narrowly squeezing past Porto in the last 16 should they go on to lift the trophy for the first time this season.

Here were Arsenal’s best and worst players during a dramatic victory in Europe.

If it wasn’t for the Spaniard, Arsenal may very well have been exiting the Champions League at the last 16 yet again. Not only did David Raya do everything required of him throughout normal and extra time, the Brentford loanee proved the difference in the all-important penalty shoot-out.

Raya kept out two Porto penalties as the home fans roared him on behind the goal, springing to his left twice to make impressive stops. The first he turned on to the post after brushing the ball with the tip of his gloves, while the second was a much firmer hand from Galeno’s spot kick. He wasn’t far off saving one in between either.

After Aaron Ramsdale’s enormous gaffe last weekend, the significance of Raya between the sticks was wonderfully exemplified on the big stage in north London.

The skipper led by example at the Emirates. It was yet another distinguished performance from the midfielder, who was instrumental in everything that Arsenal did in the final third, orchestrating each attack for the hosts.

It was his moment of brilliance that sliced open a resolute Porto backline in the first half, the Norwegian drifting away from a blue and white shirt with a wonderful touch and playing an inch-perfect pass for Trossard to curl home.

Odegaard was tireless out of possession as well, with the Arsenal crowd audibly enthused every time he got the ball at his feet.

Jorginho has often been thrown into the Arsenal XI in big games this season, with the Italian’s presence offering the Gunners greater balance and enabling Declan Rice to venture further forward. However, the 32-year-old struggled in the centre of the pitch here.

He was uncharacteristically sloppy in possession and was easily bypassed on the counter-attack, with the midfielder unsurprisingly the first man sacrificed by Mikel Arteta in the second half. It was not the former Chelsea man’s most fruitful outing in a red shirt and his age started to show as the game wore on.

Perhaps our standards are just too high for the French centre-back given his dazzling performances on a regular basis in north London, but William Saliba was off his game against Porto.

The 22-year-old was wayward in his passing and struggled on several occasions with the trickery and pace of Porto’s forward players – receiving a booking for wrestling Galeno to the ground in the first half as the visitors countered.