The nerve-shredding sudden-death decider saw them edge into the Champions League quarter-finals after Eduardo had fluffed his first spot-kick.
But the young guns held their nerve, their spirit inexhaustible.
Walcott said: “You should have been in the dressing room after the game – it was like we’d just won the World Cup final. The atmosphere was brilliant.
“There’s all sorts of nationalities in the team but it’s such a big family. We all get along. They’re a brilliant bunch of lads to play with. It shows the character Arsenal have, especially with penalties for such a young team who haven’t really experienced that.
“The supporters were unbelievable and we showed great team spirit and good attitude. The way we went through was just fantastic.”
The last eight looks so powerful, with Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Chelsea among them, and Walcott said: “You need to fear every single team. Every team will be a difficult game.
“It doesn’t matter who we get, just bring it on.
“We are just going to play brilliant football if we can and see where it takes us. It would be nice to be back to Rome for the final, but we are not going to get ahead of ourselves.
“We’re young and we’re still learning about this sort of thing.
“If we had lost, there would have been a lot of players down, and we would have had to get their hopes back up for Blackburn on Saturday. But everybody’s buzzing. Hopefully this will prove that we are a great unit.”
Walcott, 19, netted the third penalty, putting Arsenal 2-1 in front, before Max Tonetto’s miss had the Gunners in dreamland.
He added: “It was a really good experience for me because it was the first penalty shoot-out I’ve ever done.
“I had a dry throat going towards the goal but I didn’t look at the goalkeeper at any time. I didn’t want him to make eye contact with me.
“It’s all about positive thinking. I learnt that from James Beattie. He is probably one of the best penalty takers I’ve seen. I’ve watched him over the years. I didn’t really expect to take the third penalty. The boss has faith in all of us and that showed in the penalty takers.”
Manuel Almunia, who saved Roma’s second penalty, a dreadful effort from Mirko Vucinic, says Wednesday could prove a defining night.
“I’m happy and proud for my team-mates,” he said. “This can give you two years of maturity in just one evening. Some players gained a lot from it. We believe we can win the trophy now and the youngsters will have taken belief.
“We must win a trophy – and Europe and the FA Cup are our targets.”
Manager Arsene Wenger, asked if it was good for the competition to have one country dominating, with four of the quarter-finalists, said: “It’s good for England, a reward for the passion for the game here and for the quality of the work that has been done in the Premier League.”
“Let’s remember that 10 years ago it was Italy, after Spain. I always feel it is down to the top quality of the work, and England should be proud of that.”
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