Thierry Henry's incredible penalty shootout prediction revealed as Arsenal icon missed winning moment vs Porto

Pundit walked away before Galeno’s penalty was saved by David Raya
Marc Mayo13 March 2024

As if Arsenal’s penalty shootout win over Porto wasn’t dramatic enough, Thierry Henry added his own sense of swagger to the occasion.

David Raya was the hero on Tuesday night as he saved two spot-kicks in the second leg of the last-16 tie, putting the Gunners into the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2010.

The second of those saves, from Porto winger Galeno, was the winning moment that sent the Emirates Stadium into delirium.

However, club legend Henry wasn’t even watching.

On pundit duty for CBS Sports, the Frenchman was so confident that Raya would save the penalty, he walked off.

Footage filmed from inside the box where Henry watched the shootout, alongside Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher, saw him strut towards the exit just before his fellow pundits celebrated Arsenal’s win.

“The way he put the ball down, it looked suspicious to me,” he claimed afterwards.

“So I left.”

Henry wasn’t the only one confident in Raya’s abilities as the Arsenal goalkeeper remarked post-match that he should have bagged three saves, having gotten a hand to Marko Grujic’s effort as Porto made it 3-2 in the shootout.

“I should have saved three!” Raya remarked to TNT Sports post-match.

“I should have saved the other one... but obviously over the moon to save two penalties in the Champions League to get to the quarter-finals.”

The goalkeeper added: “We played a really, really good game from the start, we dominated and created chances but it went down to penalties.”

“We’ve been working a lot on penalties this year, because on nights like this we need to be really, really good.

“All the hard work with the goalkeeping coach and with the team has paid off, obviously it’s a great moment personally and collectively.”

Arsenal are now in the hat for Friday’s draw, which will map out each team’s route to the Wembley final in full.

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