Arsenal fought back to earn a 2-2 draw in an action-packed and error-filled Europa League last-16 first leg at Sporting. The Gunners, who were still without Gabriel Jesus despite his recent return to training, initially took the lead when William Saliba headed home from a corner in the 22nd minute. But Sporting hit back with a header of their own, Goncalo Inacio glancing in from a set piece before taking a shock lead at the start of the second half after Paulinho tapped in from close range.
Arsenal, though, made sure the return leg on Thursday March 16 would start on an even keel when Granit Xhaka’s attempted pass deflected off Hidemasa Morita and into his own net. Pedro Goncalves had a wonderful chance in the sixth minute when he latched on to a long ball in behind the Arsenal defence and beat Saliba inside the box but shot wide with a placed effort.
Saliba was soon heading in the opener at the other end as he rose unmarked to meet Fabio Vieira’s in-swinging corner from six yards. Sporting felt the goal should have been disallowed due to Oleksandr Zinchenko grappling with a defender, but the VAR disagreed.
However, the hosts hit back with a carbon-copy of Saliba’s goal when Inacio glanced in from a corner as goalkeeper Matt Turner hesitated and didn’t come off his line to claim the delivery.
Turner had a mixed evening on his first start since January, saving well from Marcus Edwards but then almost played his side into trouble when passing out from the back. Up the other end, goalkeeper Antonio Adan made a crucial save with his left leg to keep out Granit Xhaka’s close-range header from a corner.
Arsenal pushed to regain the lead at the start of the second half, seeing Adan keep out Gabriel Martinelli’s dink before Vieira shot just wide from distance. And they were sucker-punched when Goncalves’ shot was parried by Turner into the path of Paulinho, who tapped in to put Sporting ahead.
Paulinho then had a huge chance to extend their lead as he was played in one-on-one by Goncalves but fired over with his left foot. It proved a costly miss as within 60 seconds Xhaka’s attempted through ball deflected off Morita and wrong-footed Adan for 2-2. Adan, though, did then keep out Vieira’s goal-bound header before the tempo finally dropped and both sides settled for a draw.
Source: Sky Sports
