Arsenal put their recent scoring problems behind them with an emphatic 7-1 win over PSV on a historic Champions League night in Eindhoven.
The Gunners went into the game facing questions about their firepower. Still, goals from Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino put Mikel Arteta’s team three up before the break and Noa Lang’s penalty proved to be a false dawn for pitiful PSV.
Martin Odegaard scored either side of Leandro Trossard’s dinked finish in the second half to put this round of 16 tie well beyond the Dutch side even before next week’s second leg in London. Riccardo Calafiori made it a magnificent seven to cap the night.
In doing so, Arsenal became the first team to score seven goals away from home in a Champions League knockout tie. A quarter-final with the winner of the Madrid derby awaits amid renewed hope that the Gunners can enjoy a special end to this season.
Meanwhile, Brahim Diaz scored a brilliant winner to give Real Madrid a slender advantage over city rivals Atletico after the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Rodrygo put the hosts ahead inside four minutes in the Bernabeu when he sprinted past Javi Galan and chopped inside the box before bending a wonderful hit past Jan Oblak.
Atletico, though, quickly settled into the game and levelled in the 32nd minute with another wonderful goal.
The in-form Julian Alvarez picked up the ball on the left side of the box, wrongfooted Eduardo Camavinga and whipped a spectacular curling strike around Thibaut Courtois and in off the post.
It was the Argentine striker’s seventh goal in nine appearances in the competition this season.
But it was Diaz, another former Manchester City player, who claimed the decisive goal in an electric Madrid derby.
A late capitulation from Club Brugge helped Aston Villa to a 3-1 win in their Champions League last-16 first-leg tie, taking the advantage into the return fixture next Wednesday.
Hakon Haraldsson scored the equaliser as Lille fought back to earn a draw at Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Dortmund had taken the lead through a brilliant strike from Karim Adeyemi in a first half in which last season’s runners-up were by far the superior side.
