Europa: Arsenal beaten on penalties after Sporting thriller, Man Utd reach Q’finals

Arsenal have been knocked out of the Europa League after losing a penalty shootout with Sporting in the second leg of their round of 16 tie.

The Gunners had picked a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Portugal and went ahead early in the game through Granit Xhaka at the Emirates Stadium as they looked to be cruising to victory.

But the visitors fought back on the hour mark as Pereira Gonçalves scored a spectacular equaliser to bring Sporting back into the game.

After a 30-minute extra-time of no more goals, both sides were forced to settle the tie on penalties, and the Portuguese won the shootout 5-3.

Read Also: Arsenal return top of Premier League after beating Villa in six-goal thriller

Goncalves’ strike from 46 yards was the furthest distance a player has scored from in the Europa League this season.

Elsewhere, Marcus Rashford was on target as Manchester United cruised into the quarter-finals of the Europa League with a win at Real Betis.

The Red Devils had thrashed their Spanish counterparts 4-1 in the first leg at Old Trafford before sealing a 1-0 victory on Thursday night, to advance to the last eight.

In other round of 16 ties, Juventus defeated Freiburg 2-0 to advance with a 3-0 aggregate win; Sevilla were beaten 1-0 by Fenerbahce but went through 2-1 on aggregate; and Feyenoord thrashed Shakhtar Donetsk 7-1 to go through with a 8-2 aggregate victory.

Bayer Leverkusen, AS Roma and Union Saint-Gilloise are the other teams that made it to the quarterfinals.

The draw for the last eight takes place on Friday.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now