This Thursday, the Arsenal received the Sporting for the round of 16 of the Europa League and lost on penalties by 5 to 3 after drawing 1 to 1 in normal time. Xhaka opened the scoring for the home team in the first half and Pedro Gonçalves left everything the same with a great goal from midfield. In the first leg, the teams drew 2-2 in Portugal.
Arsenal’s next duel is for the Premier League against Crystal Palace, at home, on Sunday, at 11 am (from Brasilia). Sporting, on the other hand, returns to the Portuguese Championship and faces Santa Clara, in their domains, only on April 2, with a time yet to be confirmed.
Now, Sporting waits to find out who they will face in the next phase of the Europa League. The duels for the quarterfinals will be defined in a draw to be held this Friday.
⏹ GAME END:
THERE ARE NO IMPOSSIBLE!! LET’S GO TO THE ROOMS!!! 🙌🤩#ARSSCP #UEL #SportingDay pic.twitter.com/uVRsXl2G1K
— Sporting Clube de Portugal (@Sporting_CP) March 16, 2023
The game
Sporting started with more possession and created the best chances in the first half, much to Arsenal’s surprise. However, whoever hit the goal first ended up opening the scoring and, in this case, it was the English team. After a good move by Gabriel Martinelli on the left, Xhaka scored the first of the duel. From that moment on, Sporting created less and dropped production in attack.
Even with the Portuguese team returning to the offensive for the second stage, Arsenal did not retreat and continued to press the opponent’s ball out. After a lot of insistence and patience, the tie came out in a great goal from the midfield of Pedro Gonçalves. With that, the visiting team grew in the game and started to bring a lot of danger to Ramsdale’s goal. Even so, the game was 1-1 after 90 minutes.
In overtime, Arsenal were better on the field, but failed to score, taking the decision to penalties.
In the kicks, Gabriel Martinelli wasted his shot – Arsenal’s fourth – and gave the ball of the game to Nuno Santos, who converted Sporting’s fifth and final kick, giving the classification to the Portuguese team.
Check out the results of the Europa League Round of 16 second leg matches:
Betis 0 x 1 Manchester United
Fenerbahce 1 x 0 Sevilla
Feyenoord 7 x 1 Shakhtar Donetsk
Freiburg 0 x 2 Juventus
Arsenal 1 (3) x (5) 1 Sporting
Ferencvar 0 x 2 Bayer Leverkusen
Real Sociedad 0 x 0 AS Roma
Royale Union SG 3 x 0 Union Berlin
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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