That was one of the most difficult games in recent memory, and they had the perfect tactic to nullify our play through the middle. We needed a moment of magic from Odegaard to unlock their defence, and I don't think we would have scored more than a couple of goals even if we played them another 5 times. They completely blocked the middle of the pitch which meant we had absolutely no joy through the centre, and our high pressing which usually yields goalscoring opportunities just didn't materialise because their players were too good technically to be caught on the ball, at least enough times for us to make it count.
Rice and Havertz in particular struggled massively because their usual hard running, intercepting, tackling qualities which is so effective against lesser opponents in England, just wasn't that effective against technically strong players and it was a throwback to the Vieira days who struggled in Europe for the same reasons. The type of players who do well in Europe are those who are very technical and excellent passers, and it's no surprise that Odegaard was the decider for us like Bergkamp and Fabregas often were in Europe. I would definitely look to reintroduce Partey and Jesus into team in time for the QF to bring up our technical ability.
I think the key reason we went through is for once, even if an opponent can stifle us, we are good enough defensively to also stifle them and the customary chances we often gave up in games like this in the past just didn't happen. It really reminded me of the ties against At. Madrid in Wenger's final season, and I would hate to face them or Inter who can do what Porto do but better. I also don't think we are clinical enough to go head to head against a Bayern, Barca or Real and outshoot them. Would be interesting to see how we fare in the next round for sure, but this tie was definitely sobering.
