ARSENAL have been knocked out of the Europa League following a defeat to Sporting Lisbon on penalties.
Gabriel Martinelli’s miss in the penalty shootout turned out to be costly.
And now the Gunners only have the Premier League title left to fight for this season.
- RESULT: Arsenal 1-1 Sporting (agg 3-3) – PEN 3-5
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- Arsenal XI: Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Vieira, Jorginho, Xhaka; Nelson, Jesus, Martinelli
- Sporting XI: Adan; St.Juste, Diomande, Inacio; Esgaio, Goncalves, Ugarte, Reis; Edwards, Trincao; Paulinho
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That’s it for tonight!
It was an incredible evening of Europa League action with the best of it undoubtedly coming from the Emirates.
Arsenal have been knocked out on penalties at home after drawing 3-3 on aggregate with Sporting Lisbon.
The game will likely be remembered for the incredible halfway line effort by Pedro Goncalves.
The Gunners will turn their attention to out-of-form Crystal Palace who visit the Emirates on Sunday.
We will see you there.
Europa League Draw Tomorrow
Arsenal will not be in the hat for the Europa League draw tomorrow but here’s all the clubs that will be.
Sevilla, Feyenoord, Man United, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma and Union Saint-Gilloise.
Wait and See
Easily forgotten amid the drama of the night is the fact both Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba were escorted off the pitch by medical staff in the first half.
There is yet to be any serious update on either of their conditions so Arsenal fans will likely want to keep their ears out tomorrow to see if any news emerges.
Both of them, particularly Saliba, have been in important in the club’s title charge this season.
Elsewhere in Europe
Fenerbahce 1-0 Sevilla – (Sevilla win 2-1 on aggregate)
Feyenoord 7-1 Shakhtar – (Feyenoord win 8-2 on aggregate)
Real Betis 0-1 Man United (United win 5-1 on aggregate)
SC Freiburg 0-2 Juventus (Juventus win 3-0 on aggregate)
Ferencvarosi 0-2 Bayer Leverkusen (Leverkusen win 4-0 on aggregate)
Real Sociedad 0-0 Roma (Roma win 2-0 on aggregate)
Union Saint-Gilloise 3-0 Union Berlin (Saint-Gilloise win 6-3 on aggregate)
Penalty Scorecard
Sporting Scorers: Jeremiah St Juste, Ricardo Esgaio, Goncalo Inacio, Artur Gomes, Nuno Santos
Sporting Misses: X
Arsenal Scorers: Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard
Arsenal Misses: Gabriel Martinelli
The Moment of Magic
Pedro Goncalves left jaws on the ground at the Emirates.
The goal came just after the 61 minute mark as Jorginho lost the ball in the centre circle.
Goncalves dribbled five yards before launching an epic effort from the halfway line which flew over the retreating Aaron Ramsdale.
Regardless of what happens for Sporting in the rest of this tournament, the fans will always have that special, special moment.
‘We gave every single ball away’
Mikel Arteta has lamented Arsenal’s sloppiness as he reflected on their Europa League defeat to Sporting.
He told BT Sport: “No [we did not do enough] because we have’t won it. A huge blow, obviously.
“There were moments especially in the first 75 minutes where we weren’t at our level. We gave every single ball away and we did not have the capacity to dominate the game.
“In the last 15 minutes and extra time we had the chances to win it and when it goes down to the penalties it’s a lot of anxiety and we lost it.
“We have to look ourselves and why we weren’t good enough to go through. And after that now we have 11 games and the first one is Palace.”
Odegaard Reacts
A disappointed Martin Odegaard has given his reaction to Arsenal’s Europa League defeat.
He said: “I think we did enough [to win it] in some periods of the game but most of the game we weren’t on the level we should be.
“I think part of the game we did well but throughout the whole game we did not play out best football so it could have gone either way.”
Sporting Success
The Sporting fans are still delirious in the away end after an extraordinary night in their history.
With perhaps Napoli being the only exception, Arsenal have been the most impressive side in European football this season.
But their standards slacked throughout both legs and Sporting Lisbon took full advantage.
A lot was said about Marcus Edwards in the build up this to tie but there are two other players who will perhaps take most credit from these two games.
One is goalkeeper Antonio Adan who made a few fantastic saves throughout the match and the other, of course, is halfway line goal king Pedro Goncalves who will likely be giving Aaron Ramsdale nightmares tonight.
All Over
So it finishes 1-1 on the night, 3-3 on aggregate and 5-3 to Sporting Lisbon on penalties.
Heartbreak for Arsenal whose European journey has come to a swift end.
Some fans may see this as a blessing in disguise given Arsenal can now fully focus on their title pursuit.
But the look of despair on the faces of the Gunners players tell you that that idea is of little consolation.
PENS: Arsenal 3-5 Sporting
Nuno Santos scores and Arsenal are OUT of the Europa League.
An extraordinary, thrilling, unbelievable European tie and Martinelli’s penalty miss is the last involvement the Premier League leaders will have in Europe this season.
PENS: Arsenal 3-4 Sporting
IT’S SAVED! MARTINELLI DENIED.
Arsenal are in huge trouble now.
And Sporting are one pen away from the Europa League quarters.
PENS: Arsenal 3-4 Sporting
Artur Gomes scores an unconvincing penalty to make it 4-3. Every pen scored so far and it’s Martinelli up next.
PENS: Arsenal 3-3 Sporting
Leandro Trossard scores but similar to Inacio it’s only just.
Not a great pen and Adan gets a hand to it – but it sneaks in.
Six taken, six scored.
PENS: Arsenal 2-3 Sporting
SO CLOSE! Inacio with a poor pen but Ramsdale only gets half a glove on it and it goes in.
PENS: Arsenal 2-2 Sporting
And a great penalty by Saka to even up the shootout again. Left foot into the bottom right hand corner.
PENS: Arsenal 1-2 Sporting
It’s Esgaio up next and he smacks it past Ramsdale, who dived late in an attempt to put the kicker off. 100 per cent so far.
Saka up next.
PENS: Arsenal 1-1 Sporting
The Arsenal captain strikes it with his left foot into the bottom corner. Two pens so far and both teams have scored.
PENS: Arsenal 0-1 Sporting
St Juste scores with a decent finish towards the top left of the net. Odegaard up next.
PENS: Arsenal 0-0 Sporting
The coin flip appears to be won by the Sporting captain and keeper Adan and the shootout will now take place in front of the away fans at the Emirates.
Who is stepping up first? It’s Jeremiah St Juste. heading forward.
Here we go
Time to become a hero. Both teams are in huddles as we await the first penalty shootout ever at the Emirates stadium for a place in the Europa League quarter-finals.
An extraordinary night of football is set for it’s final act.
Reality star Kim Kardashian, who is at the Emirates tonight, has certainly got her money’s worth.
Arsenal 1-1 Sporting Lisbon (Agg: 3-3)
There’s the whistle.
What a game. What a tie. We’re going to penalties in this epic game at the Emirates.
Wow.
Arsenal 1-1 Sporting Lisbon (Agg: 3-3)
120. One minute added on and then it’s penalties unless there’s a late goal.
Ramsdale is going to boot forward a free-kick from the halfway line.
Arsenal 1-1 Sporting Lisbon (Agg: 3-3)
118. RED CARD! Ugarte sent off for Sporting.
The away side break from the Arsenal corner – having narrowly survived two attempts on their goal – before Arsenal win it back.
In an attempt to stop the Gunners then breaking on their goal, Ugarte takes out Saka with a late tackle and picks up his second booking.
A wild few minutes here at the Emirates.
Arsenal 1-1 Sporting Lisbon (Agg: 3-3)
116. BIG SAVE BY ADAN! Martinelli is fouled and Odegaard swings in a free-kick.
Gabriel gets a header in that the keeper is able to knock out for a corner.
And another chance! Effort at the back post from the corner that looks like it was cleared off the line.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk