Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal. UEFA Europa League Round of 16.
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Match report as William Saliba heads Arsenal ahead before Sporting take lead through Goncalo Inacio and Paulinho in Europa League last-16 first leg; Gunners equalised through Hidemasa Morita's unfortunate own goal; Gabriel Jesus was not in the squad; Second leg takes place on March 16
Friday 10 March 2023 08:08, UK
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.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta: "When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe, it's very difficult to get a positive result.
"The game had different phases because we gave too many simple balls away in our own half and gave them the capacity to (exploit) transition moments which they are good at.
"In other moments we had total control of the game and we lost a little bit of threat today, especially with the four players we are missing in our frontline.
"Some positives because we showed a lot of resilience to get back in the game, but we need to defend our box much better and be better on Sunday.
"We've played some really emotional games recently. We made a lot of changes today and sometimes that takes time to get that cohesion. You could feel in the first 15 minutes that it needed some time to adapt and click. If we don't expose them, though, that's never going to happen."
Sporting boss Ruben Amorim: "If you were to ask any Sporting fan before the match if a draw would be a
good result, they would say 'yes'.
"Now taking into account the 90 minutes, some of them will be disappointed. Our players were very smart, when recovering the ball we had quality in possession and created chances.
"I would say we could have won the match today. We could have scored (to make it) 3-1 and right after we conceded a second goal."
Arsenal visit Fulham in the Premier League on Super Sunday; coverage starts on Sky Sports Premier League at 1pm with kick-off at 2pm. Sporting play Boavista at 8.30pm on Sunday with the return leg at the Emirates next Thursday.
