The Gunners looked set to take home a valuable draw before a series of mistakes allowed Galeno the chance to curl home from distance.
The result leaves Arsenal with work to do in the second leg in two weeks time.
Sloppy Start
Arsenal were immediately on the back foot with a sluggish start. Declan Rice received a yellow card inside the opening minutes after trying to recover the ball.
Despite this, Arsenal soon reverted to their possession-based game, enjoying 80% of the ball in the opening ten minutes. But for all their dominance, they looked short of ideas, and struggled to create any clear openings.
Porto should have taken the lead midway through the half, when Galeno inexplicably missed from point-blank range. As the ball ricocheted off of Gabriel, Galeno struck the post and as the ball bounced back kindly for the Brazilian, he shot wide from two yards out. The majority of the stadium thought it was in, with the stadium announcer even playing the hosts celebration music.
Porto were growing in confidence, and forced David Raya into a routine save from the right-hand side.
Arsenal had a few half chances from set pieces through William Saliba and Kai Havertz, but in truth were struggling to create any clear openings. Whenever they built up some momentum, their flow was disrupted by innocuous fouls awarded by a somewhat whistle-happy referee.
Advantage Surrendered
The second half continued in a similar pattern, with Arsenal dominating the ball but being frustrated by a lack of openings.
Leandro Trossard hit a snap shot at the back post over the bar, before Gabriel connected with a free kick towards the end of the match.
As the game seemed to be drifting towards a stalemate, Arsenal showed their naievity with some sloppy play to gift the hosts an opening.
Rice first lost possession when trying to clear, before the visitors were given a second chance to clear through Gabriel Martinelli. The Brazillian also lost possession, before the ball worked it's way to Galeno, who curled in from the edge of the box to give the hosts an advantage to take into the second leg.
Work To Do
Arsenal will have to find a way to break down a stubborn Porto side in a fortnight. The Portuguese side are the first team in two years to restrict Arsenal to zero shots on target.
The result will be a blow to Arsenal but they will know they have what it takes to turn the tie around in the second leg.
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