What happened for Declan Rice at the very start was hardly ideal – a booking to clip his wings after 67 seconds of Arsenal’s Champions League last-16, first-leg tie against Porto at Estádio do Dragão. “It was a real kick in the teeth because that can change your mindset a little bit,” the midfielder said of his lunge into the Porto winger Galeno.
It was what happened at the very end that continued to preoccupy Mikel Arteta and his players as they awoke on Thursday to overcast skies at their hotel on the banks of the Douro. The late twist was the true kick in the teeth and if Galeno was the star turn, bending home the only goal in the final minute of stoppage time, then Rice was a part of it and so, too, was the issue of Arsenal’s mindset.
