Declan Rice insisted that Arsenal will learn quickly after admitting that they showed inexperience during their 1-0 defeat to Porto in the Champions League round of 16 first leg.

The Gunners had struggled to show any real attacking threat in a turgid affair at the Estadio do Dragao. Then with seconds remaining in the match, David Raya, Rice himself and Gabriel Martinelli all gave the ball away cheaply in quick succession and were punished in brutal fashion as Galeno curled in from distance to give Porto a shock lead in the tie.

This was Arsenal’s first Champions League knockout tie in seven years, with Kai Havertz being the only member of the starting XI to have played a game at this stage of the competition. In 40-year-old Pepe meanwhile, Porto sported the oldest outfield starter in Champions League history. Speaking after the game Rice admitted the lack of European knowhow compared to their opponents was what cost them.

“I think the last minute is probably a bit of inexperience,” the 25-year-old said. “Just probably having a bit more savviness, in terms of – [it’s] the 93rd minute, you look up at the clock, it’s 0-0, we gave a ball away on the edge of our box twice and then he bends one in the top bins. So we have got to have a bit of savviness to see out the game, because if you can’t win, definitely don’t lose – especially in a knockout game.

“I think you look on the pitch at a load of their players, you look at Pepe especially, with the experience he has got in these types of ties. You look at our team, we are such a young group. Some of us have not played in the Champions League before [this season], so it is all about learning on the job.

“But we have to play better than we did tonight. They made it really tough, but in the second leg we will be ready to go and give it everything.”

Prior to Galeno’s late winner, the game had been blighted by persistent fouling. Dutch referee Serdar Gozukbuyuk awarded 36 fouls across the evening – more than in any match across this season’s Champions League so far. This again is an area where Rice felt his team has room for improvement.

“I think when you play the European teams, obviously they are going to play and be really different to English sides,” he said. “The refs are really different. You can’t really get away with much in European ties. It is about learning on the job and seeing where we can improve on that front.”

The stop-start nature of the game meant that Arsenal failed to ever find any sort of attacking rhythm. The Gunners, who had not scored less than three goals in any game since returning from the winter break, failed to even muster a shot on target for the first time in two years.

Rice though has insisted this is again part of the learning curve that this young Arsenal side are on and backed them to rediscover their attacking potency against Newcastle in the Premier League this weekend.

“We just said that (in the dressing room) not every game is going to be fives and sixes,” he said. “You are going to come up against teams who are watching us and seeing what they can do to stop us. Tonight I don’t think we had a shot on target, so it is tough to take, it is tough to hear that.

“But we are really positive still, there is a real positivity around the place at the minute. We are going to keep our heads held high and go again on Saturday and give it everything against Newcastle.”