A goalless second leg at the Emirates Stadium was enough for Arsenal to get through to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Re-live the contest with the best facts and Opta data in our Arsenal vs Sporting CP stats page.
Arsenal scraped into the Champions League semi-finals after Wednesday’s goalless home draw sent them through with a 1-0 aggregate win over Sporting CP.
Kai Havertz’s late winner in last week’s first leg ultimately proved decisive as Arsenal teed up a last-four meeting with Atlético Madrid, but Mikel Arteta’s side were far from convincing at the Emirates Stadium.
Trincão fired narrowly wide for the visitors early on after Morten Hjulmand profited from William Saliba’s careless mistake, though Viktor Gyökeres almost scored against his former club by dipping a swerving strike over Rui Silva’s crossbar soon after.
Sporting should have gone in front on the stroke of half-time when Maxi Araújo found Geny Catamo, and his left-footed volley clipped the post, having seen David Raya’s error almost allow the visitors in minutes earlier.
Araújo angled an effort just off target as Sporting’s momentum continued into the second half, though Gabriel Martinelli flashed a half-volley over and Noni Madueke blazed into the side-netting down the other end.
Sporting had penalty appeals waved away after claiming Cristhian Mosquera had pushed Araújo from behind, before substitute Havertz rushed an attempted backheel finish with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Leandro Trossard headed against the woodwork from Max Dowman’s right-sided corner late on, while João Simões offered a stoppage-time scare by powering wide of the right-hand corner as Arsenal held on to keep their European dream alive.
Data Debrief: Defence Covers Misfiring Arsenal Attack
Arsenal’s timid first-half performance was hardly the response they needed following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Bournemouth in the Premier League, and this opening 45 minutes continued a concerning trend.
Arteta’s side have scored just one non-penalty goal in the first halves of their last eight matches in all competitions, including none in their last five, and they will be desperate to change that in their potential Premier League title decider versus Manchester City on Sunday.
But on this occasion, Arsenal did not need to score. They have now lost just one of their last 24 European home games (W17 D6), going down 1-0 against eventual champions Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s semi-finals.
Arsenal have also kept a clean sheet in 17 of their last 23 European matches at the Emirates, conceding just nine goals overall.
This was always going to prove a tough ask for Sporting, who have failed to beat Arsenal in any of their nine meetings in European competitions (L4 D5), the most the Portuguese side have faced any opponent without ever winning.
And this second-leg clash will hardly live long in the memory after Arsenal accumulated just 0.67 expected goals (xG) to Sporting’s 0.23 in a nervy affair that saw just one shot on target for each team.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Arsenal vs Sporting CP stats from their Champions League meeting at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Arsenal vs Sporting CP: Selected Post-Match Opta Facts
- Arsenal have reached the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in back-to-back seasons – they had only made two previous European Cup/Champions League semi-finals before this (2005-06 and 2008-09).
- Sporting CP are the 10th consecutive Portuguese club to fail to progress from a Champions League quarter-final tie since eventual winners FC Porto eliminated Lyon in 2003-04. Six of those 10 eliminations have come against English opponents.
- At 1-0 on aggregate, this was the joint-lowest scoring two-legged quarter-final tie in the Champions League, and lowest since Manchester City beat Atlético Madrid 1-0 on aggregate in 2021-22.
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