Fabregas sends confident message to Gunners fans after Porto nightmare

Cesc Fabregas has tipped Arsenal to overcome a 2-1 deficit to Porto in the second leg to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League. The Gunners conceded two very easy goals, according to the Gunners skipper, but believes the return at Emirates on

Cesc Fabregas has tipped Arsenal to overcome a 2-1 deficit to Porto in the second leg to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League.

The Gunners conceded two "very easy" goals, according to the Gunners skipper, but believes the return at Emirates on March 9 will be a different story.

"It's true we weren't able to win and it's going to be hard for us in the second leg, but I'm still confident we'll prevail in the end," he said.

"The return match is going to be difficult for both teams. We'll just have to see who's strongest on the night."

Falcao's controversial winner - scoring from a quickly taken free kick after Lukasz Fabianski inexplicably picked up Sol Campbell's backpass - gave Porto the advantage and his team-mate Silvestre Varela, who netted a fortuitous opener when Fabianksi parried his cross into his own net before Campbell levelled with a header, said his side deserved their win.

"Of course, I enjoyed scoring the goal and it doesn't really matter how I did it. That's the way things go in football sometimes," said Varela.

"We faced a very strong opponent and I don't see this as a bad result for us at all. I think Arsenal played quite well but we managed to deny them the chance to play their game."

Arsene Wenger described the defeat as "hard to swallow".

He added: "It is unfortunate we lost this game, but we are still in the tie. We have a good opportunity to turn it around in the second game. The goals we conceded were difficult to imagine in a Champions League game."

Wenger can feel confident about the second leg as history is on his side; Porto have lost twice at Arsenal and 11 times in 13 visits to England.