It marked a triumphant return to form for the striker, who was ridiculed at the weekend after missing a string of chances against Burnley in the Premier League.

Three days later his goalscoring prowess powered Arsenal into the European quarter-finals with a 5-0 demolition of the Portuguese champions, 6-2 on aggregate.

Bendtner, an industrial presence in a team full of artists, divides opinion at The Emirates like no other, and his gangly style occasionally jars in comparison with the silky movements of those around him.

He is an easy target for fans' when things are not going well but Wenger has always stood by the 22-year-old.

"It shows you how football can change very quickly," Wenger said.

"It can go quickly up and quickly down. It shows that he had not lost his confidence and he came back with a good focus and belief, that's one of his strengths, his confidence levels remain relatively stable.

"He has the size and presence that we need because we are normally a very short team...he helps us offensively and defensively."

While Bendtner grabbed the match ball with two routine finishes and a stoppage time penalty, Wenger was quick to praise the impact of Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin whose pace and trickery tore Porto to pieces on the slick Emirates carpet.

Such was their impact that the absence of captain Cesc Fabregas went almost unnoticed while Nasri's exquisite solo dribble for Arsenal's third goal was sheer class.

"Nasri is developing very well," Wenger said. "What he showed tonight he shows in training and we expected that to come out in the games.

"He is a player with talent and he showed that tonight like he did on Saturday and he has started to be efficient now. Tonight he made the first goal and scored a great goal. Great players assist and score goals."

Arsenal's thumping win finally allowed them to overturn a first-leg deficit in Europe for the first time since they beat Hajduk Split on away goals in the 1978-79 season.

"The statistics were against us," Wenger said of the nine subsequent occasions that Arsenal had failed to recover from a first leg defeat. "But historical statistics don't mean a lot if you have a good team on the pitch."

Reuters