Arsenal, Atletico zoom into Europa League semis; CSKA Moscow, Lazio out

By Daily Sports on April 13, 2018

Arsenal survived a scare as they progressed to the last four of the Europa League on Thursday after coming back to draw 2-2 with CSKA Moscow in Russia in their quarterfinal second leg.

Fedor Chalov and Kirill Nababkin scored for CSKA to set Arsenal nerves jangling in the Russian capital, but Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey both netted late on for the Premier League side as they won the quarterfinal 6-3 on aggregate.

It was another night of comebacks in a crazy midweek in Europe, with Marseille and Red Bull Salzburg producing stirring performances to overturn first-leg deficits.

Atletico Madrid are also through, and remain the favourites, despite losing 1-0 on the night away to Sporting Lisbon.

Arsene Wenger was without Granit Xhaka and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in Moscow so Mohamed Elneny and Welbeck came in as the two changes to the team that won the first leg 4-1.

Clinging to the Europa League to rescue their season as they languish well out of the running for a top-four finish in the Premier League, the Gunners came close to suffering a humiliating defeat at the CSKA Arena.

The hosts, spurred on by a 29 000 crowd, went ahead six minutes before the interval when Chalov followed in to score after Petr Cech had saved low down from Nababkin.

CSKA hopes were raised further as Nababkin made it 2-0 in the 50th minute after Cech had beaten away Alexander Golovin's long-range strike.

But Arsenal ended any doubt with quarter of an hour left as Welbeck played a brilliant one-two with Elneny before finishing sweetly into the corner to reduce the deficit on the night and extend their lead in the tie.

Elneny then sent Ramsey – scorer of a brace in the first leg – away to score Arsenal's equaliser on the night in stoppage time.

"Maybe we were a bit surprised by the intensity of the game and we were not in the races in the first half. We were a bit on the ropes, but we had a good response," Wenger told BT Sport after Arsenal secured a first European semifinal appearance since 2009.

"It should be every year. It's never enough. You could see this week in Europe that you had a lot of turnarounds and you need to be completely focused, so let's be prepared and see who we play."

MORE STUNNING COMEBACKS

After Roma's stunning comeback against Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, and Juventus's heroic effort against Real Madrid on Wednesday, Marseille and Salzburg came up with stunning fightbacks of their own in the last eight of Europe's second-tier competition.

Marseille, the 1993 Champions League winners, needed to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit when they hosted RB Leipzig at the Velodrome.

The evening started badly for the French club as Bruma swept home for the visitors inside two minutes, leaving Marseille needing three goals to turn the tie around.

But they did that before the interval in front of a huge Velodrome crowd, via a Stefan Ilsanker own goal, Bouna Sarr and Florian Thauvin.

Jean-Kevin Augustin scored to swing the tie back Leipzig's way 10 minutes after the break, but Dimitri Payet made it 4-2 on the night in some style five minutes later.

With the Germans sending everyone forward for a corner in stoppage time, Marseille made sure of the victory as Hiroki Sakai netted on the counter-attack to complete a 5-3 aggregate win.

Salzburg lost 4-2 to Lazio in Rome last week but won 4-1 in the return in Austria, despite Ciro Immobile giving the Italians a second-half lead on the night.

The hosts proceeded to score four times in 20 minutes, through Munas Dabbur, Amadou Haidara, Hwang Hee-Chan and Stefan Lainer, to advance 6-5 on aggregate.

Meanwhile, Atletico held on in the rain in Lisbon to win 2-1 on aggregate against Sporting, despite losing on the night to a Fredy Montero header in the first half.

The draw for the semifinals will take place on Friday. © AFP

•Photo by Gallo Images shows Arsenal players celebrating . . . Tuesday night in Moscow

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 13, 2018


 

You may also like...
Chelsea, Atletico scout Osimhen

…As campaign to take Chelsea from Abramovich over...

Real Madrid, Juventus and Barca not giving up...

Enyimba in trouble against El-Kanemi in Calabar —...

Oshoala Ruled Out Of 2022 WAFCON

NFF, Ighodalo, Sports Editors celebrate Pitch Awards winners...

 

Latest News CAF awards: Ajibade, Nnadozie, Edo Queens bag nominations Lagos SWAN, PAACC Hold SWAN Day At Golfview Hotels, Ikeja Crisis looms as Eagles’ form raises AFCON, W’Cup concerns Ex-Nigerian Super Falcons player handcuffed, children assaulted as police storm Anambra Football Academy Sports NFF, teammates console Nwabali on father’s death Abia Govt hails Nigeria Olympic Committee over staging an admin course in Umuahia Libya deliver Eagles 2025 AFCON ticket Eagles battle Cheetahs for 2025 AFCON ticket Yellow Greens gear up for T20 W’Cup qualifiers Tyson tips Fury to beat Joshua Sadiq absent as 22 Eagles train in Abidjan Eagles’ striking trio hot for Cheetahs, Amavubi clashes

 

Most Read Rangers International going, going . . . (55,164 views) Amaju Pinnick: A cat with nine lives (46,307 views) Second Term: Amaju Pinnick, Other NFF Heavyweights Home to Roost •How Pinnick Broke the Jinx (44,370 views) Missing $150,000 IAAF Grant: Solomon Dalung’s Hide and Seek game (44,015 views) Sports Development: Zenith Bank on the zenith (43,948 views) Current issues in Nigerian sports: Matters arising (43,904 views) Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje’s solid footprints, commitment to sports development in Kano State (43,743 views) NFF Presidency: Pinnick, Maigari, Ogunjobi, Okoye in Battle for Supremacy (43,312 views) Olopade, BET9A wave of revolution in NNL (42,366 views) Commonwealth Games 2018: Shame of Muhammadu Buhari, Solomon Dalung (41,054 views) Ibrahimovic’s Man U exit: Whose decision is it? And in whose interest? (39,507 views) John Mikel Obi: Segun Odegbami’s Outrageous Call! (38,931 views)

 

Phone numbers

Tel: +234(0)8066020976
+234(0)8055068145
+234(0)7013416146
+234(0)8094272884

Email addresses

info@dailysportsng.com
support@dailysportsng.com
publisher@dailysportsng.com

Office address

No 3, Adetoun Close, Off College Road, Ogba, Ikeja Lagos.
Website: www.dailysportsng.com

Social Media