With his team already through to the last 16 and with several key men - like captain Cesc Fabregas and striker Robin van Persie - carrying injuries, Wenger felt confident enough to take a calculated gamble with his selection against a well-organised Portuguese outfit, who had never lost at home to an English side.

However, the move back-fired as the much-changed Gunners never really got going at the Estadio do Dragao and were undone by goals either side of the break by Bruno Alves and Lisandro Lopez.

Arsenal will now be drawn against one of the group winners next Friday - which include Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Roma, who claimed top spot ahead of Chelsea - while they also must play the second leg away from home.

However, Wenger maintains the Gunners - who knocked holders AC Milan out in the second round last season, not to mention claiming wins over both Real Madrid and Juventus en route to the 2006 Champions League final - have nothing to fear.

He said: "We can fight with everybody in Europe and can qualify against anybody.

"It is important now to come back in the championship and be in a good position. We now have some time to focus on that.

"We will see who we get in the draw, and then look at the Champions League again in February."

Wenger feels Arsenal play better against the so-called bigger clubs, but he maintained: "Let's first wait to see who we get.

"It is difficult to have any speculation now."

The Arsenal manager, though, accepted his much-changed team were "not strong enough" to fight their way back into last night's game.

"In the first half, we were not in trouble until the first goal, from then on the game became more difficult," he said.

"We have seen our weaknesses from when we were in a position where we had to come out at the back and put them under pressure, because we lost balls where you cannot afford to lose balls and we were in trouble.

"When we are 2-0 down the belief was not there and we were not strong enough to come back."

Emmanuel Eboue had been jeered off when he was replaced toward the end of last week's Barclays Premier League game against Wigan following some poor touches.

However, the 25-year-old, playing at right-back, was given a warm welcome by the small travelling band of some 1,500 or so Arsenal fans.

Eboue threw his shirt into the stands at the final whistle to show his gratitude for their backing.

Wenger said: "He got the support of the fans here and he did all right.

"But it does not go as quickly as that. It will take a little time."

Porto boss Jesualdo Ferreira praised the way his team delivered and claimed top spot after a slow start to their group campaign.

"The players knew what my tactics were going to be and they played even better than I expected," he said.

"We deserved first place in the group, but it is most important that the players grew a lot with this type of performance."