Keown gets last laugh after Ferdinand called him 'a bully' for Arsenal demand

Veteran defender Pepe was caught out for Arsenal's opening goal in Tuesday night's Champions League Round of 16 tie - just hours after TNT Sports pundit Martin Keown urged his old club to make him "want to retire" after the match.

Pepe, 41, captained FC Porto in the second leg of their tie against the Gunners. He and his team-mates arrived at the Emirates with a 1-0 lead on aggregate after beating Arsenal late in Portugal last month.

Despite Pepe's wealth of experience, Keown backed Mikel Arteta's vibrant young team to torment the former Real Madrid man - much to the amusement of Rio Ferdinand, who playfully branded his broadcast colleague "a bully".

Keown said pre-match: "Pepe, 41 years of age, you have to get in and around him. You got to test him. You've got to make sure he wants to retire after this game. He's had a great career.

"But look, someone's got to really get into him and embarrass him because it's a big boys game. You're 41 years of age. Can you still survive it? He can it looks like it. But I think we've got to question him."

Ferdinand then chimed in, quipping: "You're out of order, he is 41. Give him a break, out of order, you're a bully, a bully!". Keown retorted: "I don't care what age he is you have to get after him."

Unfortunately for Pepe and Porto, Keown's prediction of sorts was proved right after the experienced centre-half played Leandro Trossard onside in the build-up to the Belgian's goal, which gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead on the night.

Join the debate! What did you make of Arsenal's performance against Porto? Let us know here.

Trossard still had plenty to do in order to beat Diogo Costa from an acute angle but he made the most of the opportunity to level the tie on aggregate. His strike came on the stroke of half-time, setting up a tense second half.

Both sides traded blows after the break and Arsenal thought they had taken the lead in the tie for the first time courtesy of Martin Odegaard. However, his smart finish was ruled out for a pull by Kai Havertz on Pepe in the build-up to the goal.

Despite failing to find a breakthrough in normal time, Arsenal booked a quarter-final spot for the first time since the 2009/10 campaign by winning a tense penalty shootout 4-2.

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