Arsenal will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Sporting CP after prevailing in Lisbon on Tuesday. Kai Havertz came off the bench to score in the last minute of a match that was seriously lacking in quality right until the final knockings, and the Gunners now have one foot in the last four.
Arsenal nearly fell behind during the first five minutes in which they barely touched the ball, with Ousmande Diomande splitting the defence with an expert outside-of-the-boot pass for Maxi Araujo, whose shot was tipped onto the bar by David Raya.
Diomande nearly put the ball in his own net down the other end when he got his head on a wicked Martin Odegaard free-kick right through the six-yard box, with Noni Madueke’s delivery from the following corner coming back off the top of the bar and the Norwegian firing the loose ball wide.
It took until the 64th minute for Arsenal to find the net as Martin Zubimendi curled the ball in at the near post from 20 yards, but VAR chalked the goal off for offside against the quiet Viktor Gyokeres during build-up.
As the game entered its closing stages, Raya was the Gunners’ saviour again when he produced a fine save low to his left to deny Geny Catamo after Luis Suarez motored away from Riccardo Calafiori down the right wing. Down the other end, Gabriel Martinelli cut inside from the left and let fly, with Rui Silva doing well to catch his powerful effort.
Raya then made a double-save to deny Catamo and Suarez at close range as Arsenal clung on to preserve their clean sheet, before they had their grandstand finish in stoppage-time. Martinelli delivered an excellent cross and Havertz had the time and space to bring the ball down before slotting under Silva, sending the travelling contingent in the top tier wild.
GOAL rates Arsenal’s players from the Estadio Jose Alvalade…
