Arsenal midfielder Fabio Vieira was spotted giving lengthy instructions and advice to teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko against Porto.
Arsenal are into the quarter-finals of the Champions League but it was a dramatic night at the Emirates Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg against Porto, many thought Arsenal would coast through and come up with a big display.
This was much trickier than expected though as Porto frustrated Arsenal for large spells and dragged the tie all the way to penalties.
Leandro Trossard’s first-half goal drew Arsenal level on aggregate and the Gunners got over the line on penalties with Wendell and Galeno failing to score.
Fabio Vieira spotted advising Oleksandr Zinchenko
Arsenal went through a real battle and everybody had a part to play – even those who didn’t get on the pitch.
Midfielder Fabio Vieira had some kind of impact having failed to come off the bench for the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta only made three changes and Vieira wasn’t one of them.
However, Vieira took a moment to try and help left back Oleksandr Zinchenko at the half-time interval in extra time.
The Telegraph’s Sam Dean noted on social media that Vieira was giving ‘very intensive and detailed instructions’ to Zinchenko.
It’s worth pointing out here that Vieira is a former Porto player who only left the club in a £34million deal back in 2022.
Vieira may well have still had some inside information on Porto’s players or tactics and wanted to help Zinchenko as he came on for Jakub Kiwior at left back.
Zinchenko didn’t exactly impress though, so maybe Vieira’s words didn’t particularly help!
Vieira may not be viewed as a team leader at Arsenal but he attempted to step up and show some leadership even as a substitute.
Arteta will surely appreciate that kind of mentality from Vieira, showing that this is a real team effort from Arsenal as they head into the last eight of the Champions League.
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