Arsene Wenger has finally put an end to that unfortunate seven-year sequence of exiting Europe at the round of 16 stage, the only downside being that this time Arsenal are in the quarter-finals of the wrong competition.
They live to fight another day in the Europa League despite falling behind to AC Milan on the night, and the Emirates Stadium will see European football beyond March for the first time since they last reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2010. That year they lost to Barcelona, holding the mighty Catalan club to a 2-2 draw at home, and since then it has been a case of ever dwindling returns for both Arsenal and their beaten opponents AC Milan.
The team managed by Gennaro Gattuso, an irrepressible figure of emotion and fury on the touchline, took the lead through a wonderful goal from Hakan Calhanoglu and were then dealt a most grievous injustice when Danny Welbeck executed a blatant dive to win a penalty. There was nothing cunning or subtle about it, just an act of deception compounded by the incompetency of the Swedish officials in falling for it, and from the penalty spot the Englishman dispatched the equaliser.
Welbeck is back in the England squad and ended this game with two goals, but one wonders what he was thinking with that tumble in the first half given the “masters of diving” accusation that Wenger has recently levelled against English players, including Dele Alli. Wenger was vague afterwards about whether he had seen the dive but even he had to concede that the Italians “were not happy” and promised to be honest with Welbeck once he had reviewed the incident.
Despite some long nervy spells, Arsenal booked their spot in the Europa League quarter-finals with a 3-1 second leg win over Milan, Danny Welbeck scoring twice
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) : David Ospina; Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka; Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil; Danny Welbeck
AC Milan (4-3-3) : Gianluigi Donnarumma; Davide Calabria, Leonardo Bonucci, Alessio Romagnoli, Ricardo Rodriguez; Frank Kessie, Lucas Biglia, Giacomo Bonaventura; Suso, Patrick Cutrone, Hakan Calhanoglu
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) : David Ospina; Hector Bellerin, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal; Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka; Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil; Danny Welbeck
AC Milan (4-3-3) : Gianluigi Donnarumma; Davide Calabria, Leonardo Bonucci, Alessio Romagnoli, Ricardo Rodriguez; Frank Kessie, Lucas Biglia, Giacomo Bonaventura; Suso, Patrick Cutrone, Hakan Calhanoglu
