Connect with us

News

Champions League: Arsenal Annihilate Lens To Win Group, Qualify For Last 16 As Man Utd Fumble, Again

Published

on

Arsenal reached the Champions League knockouts as group winners by thumping Lens at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners scored five in a phenomenal first-half display as they reached the last 16 in their first appearance in the competition for seven years.

Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all scored in the first half, before Jorginho added a late penalty.

Arsenal progressed from Group B alongside PSV Eindhoven, with Lens out.

Advertisement

Havertz brought into the starting XI after scoring the winner against Brentford at the weekend, opened the scoring on 13 minutes when Lens failed to clear a looping ball into the box. Jesus nodded across goal and Havertz showed a striker’s instinct to finish from close range ahead of goalkeeper Brice Samba.

Jesus turned scorer to slot the second past Samba from 15 yards, sweeping home after being set up by Saka’s powerful run between defenders from the right.

Arsenal’s attacking unit was in full flow, illustrated by Saka taking his turn to move from provider to scorer just two minutes and 20 seconds later, steering the ball home after Samba saved from Martinelli.

Brazil winger Martinelli would not be denied and scored the best of the lot on 27 minutes, finding the far bottom corner after cutting inside from the left.

The fifth came in first-half stoppage time, Odegaard perfectly timing a volley from 12 yards following Takehiro Tomiyasu’s excellent cross.

Advertisement

Arsenal are the first side in Champions League history to have five different scorers in the first half of a match.

A more sedate second half followed before Jorginho added a sixth from the spot following a handball by Abduqodir Khusanov.

Meanwhile, Manchester United’s Champions League hopes suffered another setback as a horror show from goalkeeper Andre Onana allowed Galatasaray to earn a draw in a classic match in Istanbul.

Erik ten Hag’s side did so much right and twice held a two-goal lead but errors from Onana threw Galatasaray lifelines to leave United bottom of Group A with their hopes of reaching the knockout phase in the balance before their final game at home to Bayern Munich.

After Bayern Munich’s draw with Copenhagen later in the evening, Manchester United will be knocked out of the competition if they fail to beat the German champions and there is a winner between Galatasaray and Copenhagen in a fortnight.

Advertisement

United, as they did in their last Champions League game in Copenhagen, were in a commanding position early on after superb strikes from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes inside the first 18 minutes.

Onana’s poor attempt to stop Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick got Galatasaray back in the game before half-time but United looked to have gained control again in what was a hostile atmosphere when Scott McTominay turned in Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s cross 10 minutes after the break to make it 3-1.

However, Ziyech was gifted a second goal from another free-kick after an even more stark blunder from Onana, who made a hapless attempt to keep the ball out, before Galatasaray substitute Kerem Akturkoglu’s explosive finish brought them level with 19 minutes left.

In a dramatic end-to-end finale, Wilfried Zaha missed a glorious chance for Galatasaray and Fernandes struck the upright as United’s Champions League destiny was taken out of their own hands.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *