For all the talk of nerves and late-season hiccups, Arsenal’s hopes of achieving a Premier League-Champions League double are still alive after Mikel Arteta’s men progressed in the Champions League, setting up a semi-final against Atletico Madrid.
The 1-0 first-leg advantage earned in Lisbon was enough to see off Sporting CP after a goalless second leg at the Emirates, which erased some of the doubts about the team’s ability to end the season with silverware.
Sporting had chances. Geny Catamo came closest to breaking the deadlock towards the end of the first half, striking the post as the visitors edged the opening 45 minutes. At times, they cut through Arsenal with ease, but the way in which Arsenal held firm and controlled the match in the latter stages will please many fans, especially after their recent run of poor results.
Arsenal had few clear chances. Noni Madueke struck the side-netting in the second half when he arguably should have set up Gabriel Martinelli. It was his last significant contribution, with injury appearing to end his evening prematurely, and he was replaced by Max Dowman.
Art de Roche and Jack Lang analyse the key talking points from a game that will provide Arsenal fans with some encouragement ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against Manchester City.
Will Man City be worried after this performance?
With three losses in their last four matches in all competitions ahead of tonight’s game, focus was not only on the result, but the performance, too.
Enjoying a first-leg lead, Arsenal did not need to surge forward from minute one. The early stages were about setting the tone. Even so, their overall performance was mixed ahead of this weekend’s trip to Manchester City.
Noni Madueke takes a shot after the break (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Arteta’s men had control for most of the night, but their decision-making held them back from being truly threatening. Whether it was forward passes not being played when there were chances to break, or players shooting when a pass should have been made, more intent was needed in certain instances.
Indecision continued to plague David Raya in possession after his Bournemouth display. Madueke showed promise with the two free kicks he won in the first half, and that direct running will be a miss if he is out for a prolonged period.
Arteta may view the trip to City similarly to this match as Arsenal hold the advantage in the title race. A solid performance and a favourable result could be enough for them, but more clarity on the ball across the pitch could make all the difference.
Art de Roche
Did Arsenal fans respond to Arteta’s plea?
“No fear. Pure fire.” In its brevity and punchiness, Arteta’s pre-match call to arms seemed to heed its own message. Before kick-off on a mild, gauzy north London evening, Arsenal’s fans took their cue from it, too. All of the worry and neurosis of the past few weeks was absent, or at least tamped firmly down, replaced by a palpable buzz.
The songs rang out. The scarves were hoisted. “History in our sights,” read a giant banner. More than anything, there was just noise, ramped up further as Arsenal started on the front foot, forcing Sporting into early errors and making a couple of promising incursions into the box.
Mikel Arteta reacts during the second-leg tie (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Fake it ’til you make it? Dress how you don’t feel? Possibly, but on a night on which psychodrama only ever felt one mistake away, the mood just about held throughout. Arteta got what he wanted from the Emirates crowd.
Jack Lang
How did Viktor Gyokeres perform against his former club?
In a game of few clear-cut chances, Sporting’s current striker still managed to outshine the man he replaced by a considerable distance.
This was not a night for the Viktor Gyokeres ultras. Fans in the green half of Lisbon remember him as a kind of Brylcreemed superhero, Goal Man, an entity whose only currency or indeed language was ball hitting net. Bang, bang, bang, where did you, bang, get that, bang, bang, bang, OK this conversation is bang, bang, bang.
That is what Arsenal thought they were buying last summer. Here, as in so many other games this season, they got something else, or perhaps the same thing just with the goals stripped out. Gyokeres ran around a bit in front of Ousmane Diomande. He watched a few long passes hit his chest and bounce off it. And that was kind of it.
At the other end, Luis Suarez was doing everything a striker should do when not actually doing the thing they’re paid to do. He dropped off and linked up with Francisco Trincao. He held the ball up well and defended it like it was a family heirloom. Above all, he actually looked capable of running past people, a novel concept in the increasingly bleak Viktorverse.
We know how this ends. Some Premier League club will pay £80million for Suarez this summer. He will score three goals next season. People will bring up Darwin Nunez and, yes, Gyokeres. But here, even as Sporting’s European dream ended, he cast his opposite number into sharp relief.
Jack Lang
What about the semi-final?
Even if the performance was not swashbuckling, Arsenal securing their place in back-to-back Champions League semi-finals for the first time is a noteworthy milestone.
For the past 16 years, Arsenal have not been a consistent big player at Europe’s top table, but finding a way to reach these stages year after year is what will change that. As Arteta put it, “For other clubs, that is their daily meal. For us, no.”
Arsenal have improved in each Champions League campaign since their return to the competition in the 2023-24 season. Back then, they were strong at home but struggled away, which came through in their quarter-final loss to Bayern Munich. They were more consistent home and away in 2024-25, which was best seen in the quarter-final wins over Real Madrid.
They have been dominant in Europe throughout this season, and now face their biggest test in Atletico Madrid. Arsenal may have thrashed Diego Simeone’s side 4-0 in the league phase this season, but the knockout stage is different.
With matches against Manchester City and Newcastle United coming before the first leg in Madrid, which takes place on April 29 (the second leg is on May 5), there is time for players to recover from their injuries and for the squad to play their way back into truly threatening form.
Art de Roche