Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1 (Champions League Quarter Finals First Leg)

Sporting CP v Arsenal

April 7th, 2026
Estádio José Alvalade
Champions League Quarter Finals

The warm up

Play the game, not the occasion.

Seems a simple enough premise when you break it down in six words doesn’t it? It’s what Bodø/Glimt had managed to do so well in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 in Norway when they put the lions to the sword with consummate ease. Yet for all intents and purposes for some unexplained reason, they then played the occasion in the Estádio José Alvalade, whilst Sporting sensibly played the game, and then some, to turn the tie completely on its head. Whilst the Portuguese media rightly went to town on the achievement of becoming only the fourth side in Champions League history to complete a remontada from a 3-0 deficit in the first leg, in England at least the aftertaste was certainly sour. The lions had mauled this season’s media darlings and the love in had been unceremoniously stopped. No credit to be bestowed upon Sporting for their incredible achievement, just a hark back to the memories of wins against Atletico, Manchester City and Internazionale for the Norwegians. Then fast forward to an expectancy that Arsenal progress in the Quarter Finals and talk of who they’ll likely meet in the semi-finals and possibly the final itself at the Puskás Arena on Saturday May, 2026. Sections of their fan base talking the same party line, as they did last season having beaten Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate, with all the talk of who they’d meet in the final, clearly underestimating Paris Saint Germain who duly knocked the North Londoners out in the semi-finals 3-1 on aggregate. Football games are not played on paper. Whether Arsenal care to admit it or not, Lisbon has not just a dog in the fight, it has a pride of lions to contend with, one who in not too distant memory they already underestimated at their peril.

The world over you’ll find financial disparity between the clubs at the top and the bottom of the respective leagues. Portugal suffers from this problem the same as any other league, but then again Portugal suffers as a whole when compared to the financial might of the Premier League. For decades Portuguese clubs have been renowned for having to survive by selling their best talent to the highest bidder and should this day ever stop, then Portuguese football will find itself up shit’s creek without the proverbial paddle. It’s not hard to work out why Arsenal start this tie as clear favourites and I’m not here to try and convince you otherwise. They rank seventh on the 29th edition of the Deloitte Football Money League which is the annual publication which profiles the highest revenue generating clubs in world football. The 2024/25 season saw the top 20 league clubs in the world generate a combined revenues of over €12 billion of which Arsenal accounted for €821.7m an increase of 15% on the previous accounting period. Where were Sporting on in that equation you may ask? Probably handing out the drinks at the reception, as close to being in the top 20 as the best binoculars on the market will allow you to see. Arsenal’s revenue dwarfed that of the lions for the same period which stood at approximately €148 million which equates to roughly 18% of the North Londoners revenue. It’s no exaggeration to point out that Arsenal’s highest paid players will earn in a month more than many of our squad will take home in their annual salary. The difference here is night and day between the two clubs.

Up until Sunday last Arsenal had dominated on all four fronts on which they were challenging. Top of the Premier League table, through to the final of the Carabao Cup, an FA Cup quarter final awaiting away to Southampton and of course their trip to Lisboa for the quarter finals of the Champions League. Talk abound of the quadruple. Now they’ll have to adjust that talk to the treble having lost at Wembley to Pep’s Manchester City 2-0. Maybe they play the kids in the FA Cup before the game in Lisboa and underestimate the Saints and pay the price. Maybe they underestimate the lions in Lisboa with one eye on Bournemouth the following game though I imagine their plan is more likely to entail trying to smash Sporing in the first leg and play a weakened team at home with Manchester City circling around like vultures who they’ll face directly after the second leg. As we all know though, nothing is certain in football, there are far too many variables to control.

We only have only the smallest sample size on how topping the Champions League Group Stage is of any benefit to those who finish in first place. Last season Liverpool finished top with a record of played 8, won 7, lost 1, GF 17, GA 5. In fairness to them the 1 only occurred because they played a weakened team away to PSV Eindhoven on matchday 8. Despite having finished atop the table, they promptly lost to the eventual winners PSG in the round of 16 on penalties. So in short, fat lot of good it did them. So this time around its Arsenal who will provide the sample size having gone one better than their Premier League Counterparts and won all 8 games. Goals for 23, goals against 4. In their ten games to date in this seasons competition they’ve fallen behind once.

Let's take a look at their games to date in this seasons competition.

Matchday 1 – Athletic Club (A) – The Gunners started where the lions ended, in Bilbao. Martinelli broke the deadlock finally on minute 71 and Trossard made sure of victory with a goal 4 minutes before time for a 2-0 win. Xg 0.35 to 1.28, Athletic Club didn’t create a single big chance, Arsenal missed 2 of 3. Clean sheet number one.

Matchday 2 – Olympiacos (H) – Martinelli amongst the goals again, this time scoring in a much healthier 10th minute, however the Gunners had to wait until the first minute of additional time to add a second through Saka. Second straight 2-0 win, second clean sheet. Xg 2.90 to 0.50. The Greeks to their credit at least created 3 big chances which clearly they missed all 3 of. Arsenal however created seven by reply, though importantly for the Greek Champions, they contrived to miss six of those chances.

Matchday 3 – Atlético Madrid (H) – If anyone was going to give the Gunners problems in their 8 league matches you’d have put forward Diego Simeone’s side as candidates and a fat lot of good that would have done you to as the North Londoners ran riot after half time. Gabriel scored the first on 56, Martinelli scored on 63 to make it 2-0 and a certain Swede with connections to the lions made it first 3-0 on 66 and then 4-0 on 69. Be impressed that I’ve managed 1,100 words and still not mentioned him by name. Xg 2.19 to 0.67, Arsenal again creating a glut of big chances with 6 in total, but once more guilty of missing the majority with 4 going astray. The Spaniards missed their 1 sole big chance. Clean sheet number 3.

Matchday 4 – Slavia Prague (A) - Saka put the visitors ahead with a penalty on 31 minutes. Merino scored a brace in the second half (45 and 67) for a comfortable 3-0 win. 360 minutes played, Arsenal still to concede a goal. Xg 0.47 to 1.81, the Czech’s didn’t create a single big chance, Arsenal importantly not only created 3 but scored all 3 to boot.

Matchday 5 – Bayern München (H) – The script writers would have been going into overtime for Harry Kane’s return to North London to overturn the apple cart. Their words however would have been wasted as Timber put the Gunners ahead on 21 minutes. It was the fresh faced youngster Lennart Karl who equalised for the Bundesliga Champions after 31 minutes and thus became the first player to find a way past the Gunners backline in 391 minutes of Champions League football. Madueke made it 2-1 on 68, Martinelli scored his forth of the campaign to give the Londoners a 3-1 win and send Kane back to Bavaria without even having taken a single shot. Xg 3.11 to 0.65, 7 big chances for Arsenal of which they missed another 4 to the 3 they converted. Karl scored Bayern’s only big chance. So whilst no clean sheet, Arsenal had overcome their biggest test to date, on paper at least, not so much it appears on the field itself.

Matchday 6 – Club Brugge (A) The Belgians the third of four of Arsenal’s opponents who would overlap with the lions (Athletic Club as previously mentioned, Bayern and Kairat Almaty making up the others). A Madueke brace (24 and 46) was complimented by another goal for Martinelli in the competition on 55 to complete a 3-0 away win. Clean sheet number 5, Xg 1.10 to 2.99. The Belgians missed their only big chance, Arsenal missed 4 of 5 big chances.

Matchday 7 – Internazionale (A) Another potential hurdle for the Gunners to finally fall at, but they once more successfully navigated any potential dangers that last season’s Champions League runners up presented. They went ahead after 9 minutes through Jesus only for Susic to level on 17. Jesus completed his brace to put Arsenal 2-1 ahead on the half hour and you know who scored 7 minutes before the end of time to make it 3-1. Xg 1.36 to 2.14. Inter missed their 1 big chance, Arsenal scored 2 of their 3. The Italians with only the second goal scored against the Londoners in this years group phase but that was scant consolation to them.

Matchday 8 – Kairat Almaty (H) Kairat’s debut into the Champions League had ended with a 4-1 defeat to the lions and by the time these two sides met on Matchday 8, they had picked up a solitary point and sat bottom of the table with Arsenal at the top with 7 victories. When you know who opened the scoring after just 2 minutes the minnows must have been fearing the worst. However Jorginho equalised after 6 minutes from the penalty spot and little old Kairat became only the third side to score against the Gunners defence. Their resilience didn’t last long in fairness as Havertz made it 2-1 on 14 minutes and Martinelli once more amongst the goals making it 3-1 after 37. However Ricardinho did pull one back 3 minutes into additional time at the end of the 90 to make it 3-2 which was how it finished and incredibly the side bottom of the table left the only side who managed to score more than once against Arsenal, who is turn had become the only side to have won all their eight matches. Xg 3.94 to 1.11, Arsenal created TEN big chances and missed EIGHT. Kairat created 2, scored 2.

Finishing top clearly allowed Arsenal to avoid the playoffs and they were rewarded with a two legged tie against the 2023/24 Bundesliga Champions.

Round of 16 first leg – Bayer Leverkusen (A) – Andrich became the first player in this seasons competition to put the opposition ahead against the Gunners with a goal immediately after the restart from half time. Havertz on his return to his former club converted a penalty on 88 minutes to salvage a 1-1 draw to take back to North London in the return leg. Xg 0.85 to 1.64, the Germans scored their only big chance, Arsenal missed 1 of their 2.

Round of 16 first leg – Bayer Leverkusen (H) Any nerves were settled relatively early on as Eze scored his first ever champions league goal on 35 minutes. Declan Rice added a second on 62 and the 3-1 aggregate win enough to setup a date with the lions in the quarter finals. 21 attempts for the Gunners still only resulted in an Xg of 1.70 compared to 0.52 for the visitors and 1 solitary big chance which they also happened to miss as did Bayer in turn.

Now if you think I’m being churlish for having gotten 2,000 words in and not yet once mentioned Viktor Gyökeres by name, well what did you expect? We all know what will drive the narrative going into these two games. He left in the summer under acrimonious circumstances having burned all his bridges. They should have built the man a statue and received a welcome befitting of a hero who led Sporting to back to back league titles. Instead he dumped his then girlfriend Inês Aguiar, went on strike to force his transfer through to Arsenal, burned all his bridges and seemingly has paid the price for a lack of a pre-season and cost himself a couple of million in wages having taken a reduction in his proposed salary to get the move over the line. If I had money to burn I’d pay for 50,000 Aguiar masks to be distributed on the day, but I don’t, and yet the thought was there and often that’s what counts right? With Sporting he scored against every single Portuguese team he played against and few would bet against him completing the set over the course of the 180 minutes which are to follow. The only person who’ll get a worse welcome would be his agent Hasan Cetinkaya but I imagine he won’t find himself on the guest list in Lisboa anyways and even if he was he’d probably do well to swerve an appearance altogether.

If you’re a Sportinguista reading this you will hope for the best, prepare for the worst and take whatever comes. None of us are kidding ourselves that the lions are likely to book a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League but we do expect at the very least that they ensure they play the game and not the occasion and give a good account of themselves. They won’t be helped by the suspension of captain Morten Hjulmand for the first leg. His absence will be as keenly felt as that of Maxi Araújo in the first leg against Bodø. Whilst Sporting may have completed that rare of remontada’s in the last round, if they go to North London 3-0 down, they won’t have a cat’s chance in hell of repeating it this time around even if Arsenal have one or both eyes on Manchester City. The lions will need to repeat their efforts from the 5-0 against Bodø and then some.

Arsenal fans will look to last season’s 5-1 thumping of Sporting in the group phase as evidence that they’ll progress into the semi-finals with the minimum of fuss and effort. They maybe right. Yet Sportinguista’s will point to the fact that the defeat came under the stewardship of João Perreira, a game which was his first as a coach in the Champions League and only his second in charge of the lions. Technically speaking without his UEFA Pro Licence, he was never really in charge at all. The gap between Amarante at home in the Taça de Portugal and Arsenal in the Champions League is as big as any you’d find in world football. The gap between Arsenal and Sporting is cavernous in itself. As of August 2025 it’s reported that Arsenal have a gross transfer spend under their mister Mikel Arteta of €900m, or €1 billion if you throw in agents fees for good measure. Sporting probably won’t have even paid half of either figure combined for every transfer they’ve ever made in the clubs history. So whilst Pereira's first game ended in a 6-0 win, you'd not have put any money on him leading Sporting in his first actual test as the new mister to a win on a boat still rocking violently from the force of its skipper Amorim having jumped ship for Manchester. It was a one sided affair, you cannot disguise the truth even if the match statistics, scoreline aside, may suggest otherwise. Proof again if ever any was needed how pointless possession is as a metric. It is after all only the percentage of passes completed by both sides, but it read 52% in favour of Arsenal’s 48%. Total attempts 19 to 13 but for their 13 read an Xg of 3.89 to 1.05. Arsenal created five big chances and scored all five, Sporting didn’t create a single one and within eight matches, the new mister had been replaced by the current incumbent Rui Borges. If you took his record in last season’s tournament it wasn’t much better than that of Pereira’s but at that point the lions pretty much sacked the competition off, instead choosing to focus on the chance of securing a second league title and were suffering from a wealth of injuries to boot. This time around with his feet firmly under the table, he took the lions to a 7th place finish in the group stage, winning 5 of his 8 games, drawing 1 and losing 2, GF 17, GA 11. We witnessed the horror show that followed against Bodø and the miracle of the remontada. He’s nobodies fool and knows the lions will need to play their perfect game not just once but twice, to dream the impossible dream.

March 2023 the two sides met in the Europa League round of 16. Saliba put the Gunners ahead on 21 minutes, Inácio equalised with a header on 33 and Paulinho turned the game on its head poking home a deflection in the six yard box to make it 2-1 to Sporting on 54. Morita turned the ball into his own net with the most unfortunate of deflections from the edge of the area on 61 minutes and the sides shared a 2-2 draw. Sporting guilty of missing 2 of 4 big chances, Arsenal missed 2 of 3. Xg 2.21 to 1.99. Come the replay Xhaka made the mistake of thumbing his nose like a four year old as he made it Arsenal 1 Sporting CP 0 after 18 minutes. Pedro Gonçalves, clearly irked, responded by firing home from five yards inside the Arsenal half to send the ball sailing over the head of Aaron Ramsdale and both the ball and the keeper into the net to make it 1-1 on 61 minutes. Even when the lions were reduced to ten 3 minutes before the end of extra time with Ugarte sent off for a second booking, they held on to take the tie to penalties. St Juste made it 1-0, Ødegaard 1-1. Esgaio made it 2-1, Saka 2-2. Inácio 3-2, Trossard 3-3. Arthur 4-3, Martinelli misses, still 4-3. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, Nuno Santos completes the job for Ruben Amorim’s side and the lions had knocked Arsenal out of Europe.

So don’t tell us that we can’t win, can’t progress. We know in all likelihood that it’s nothing more than a mere pipe dream. That our hopes and dreams will be dashed and more than likely before the end of the 90 and by you know who. Yet, this is football, you never know and above all else, play the game, the jogo bonito, and not the occasion.   

In the markets

Sporting CP 16/5
Draw 27/10
Arsenal 5/6

To qualify for the semi finals

Sporting CP 16/5
Arsenal 2/11

The Gunners with an implied probability of 84.6% of progressing through to the semi-finals.

Team News 

Starting XI 

Silva, Fresneda, Diomande, Inácio, Araújo, Morita, Simões, Geny, Trincão, Gonçalves and Suárez 

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Callai, Debast, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Mangas, Kochorashvili, Bragança, Faye, Gonçalves and Nel

Having rested many players in the win over Santa Clara we're about to see if it pays dividends. Out go Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Debast and Mangas for Fresneda, Diomande, Inácio and Araújo. Arsenal fan Hjulmand is suspended for the first leg, not that he started last time out. Bragança is replaced by the young legs of Simões. Up front top scorer Luis Suárez returns from his one man ban to lead the line in place of youngster Rafael Nel. 

Arsenal Starting XI 

1 Raya

4 White 

2 Saliba

6 Gabriel

33 Calafiori

36 Zubimendi 

41 Rice 

8 Ødegaard 

19 Trossard

14 Gyökeres 

20 Madueke

First Half 

This feels like a scene from the original Star Wars movies. I got a bad feeling about this. Despite the Gunners losing their last two games no one from a Sporting point of view is going into the game underestimating the Premier League leaders. Whilst they may never have won a knockout game on Portuguese soil, even missing the likes of Saka it's going to take a Herculean effort on the part of the lions. They may do it once, but twice over 180 minutes seems like a real stretch. All too frequently we see the nerves on European nights and the first question is can they overcome those? Sporting need to be alert from runs to the touchline and the pull back, avoid corner kicks wherever possible and ensure that Gyökeres is not giving the space to run into that he craves. 

Sporting in their traditional white and green horizontal stripes. Arsenal in blue with red trim and white shorts. Arsenal get us underway, Sporting attack right to left this opening half.

5 Araújo smashes a shot onto the bar from 18 yards. Raya just got his hand to it. Big chance for the lions. The Uruguayan beat the offside trap and had acres of space to run into. 

7 Trincão sees his effort from outside the area blocked 

8 Araújo tried his hand again from outside the box but his effort goes over Raya’s bar. 

10 Geny tries from wide right wide of the area but Raya saves. 

14 Diomande heads for a corner near side 

15 Madueke's corner hits the bar as Rui Silva pushed into his own net. Ødegaard fires wide of the right post for the Gunners first attempt of the night 

20 Araújo concedes a free kick nearside. Arsenal opt to pass through their midfield before crossing. Diomande nods away under the minimum of pressure 

22 Sporting counter with Araújo on the left but his run is stopped by White and Madueke double teaming him on the edge of the area 

24 Sporting win possession in the centre but don't have enough speed to take full advantage on the left flank. I wonder if Alisson is watching on in Naples? 

27 Inácio finds Araújo on the edge of the area and his first touch is like a trampoline and sends it out for a goal kick. 

28 Corner nearside to Arsenal as Araújo blocks a Madueke cross 

29 Huge cheers from the home fans as White penalised for a shove in the back of Trincão 

30 Suárez crumpled in midfield but the referee uninterested and play continues 

31 Yellow shown to Morita for a foul on Trossard. Took the ball clearly and the Japanese aggrieved by the decision and let's the Arsenal player know as much 

32 Sporting head the free kick clear and justice done. Arsenal fans may be remembering the game against Inter last season where they happily headed crosses away all night 

32 Yellow to Suárez who misses the second leg. Not sure what that was for as it just flashed up on the screen. Dissent apparently which is frankly fucking ridiculous on the part of the Colombian if correct 

36 This game isn't going to be winning any awards it's fair to say as Diomande let's the ball run out for a goal kick 

38 Close up of Araújo and you can see it's pouring with rain in Lisboa 

40 Rare foray from the lions who had everyone bar Diomande, Inácio and Silva in the box but ended up going backwards 

40 Dangerous back pass to Raya from Zubimendi who scrambles the ball clear 

41 Trincão with a run outside the area from right to left, ends with a Diomande effort smashed into the crowd behind the Raya goal

43 Suggestion Suárez wasn't booked and therefore as it stands won't miss next week's game 

43 Ødegaard with Arsenals first shot on target from 20 yards dealt with easily enough by Silva diving low to his left 

44 Geny with a 1-2 on the edge of the area but Calafiori cuts out the danger. 

Half time

Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 0

You have to imagine that Rui Borges will be the happier of the two misters at half time with the scoreline level. Arsenal have looked a shadow or the side that destroyed João Pereira's Sporting in last season's competition. The lions went closest through Araújo's effort which smashed off the bar. Arsenal had to wait until two minutes before the end of the half to have their first effort on target. Gyökeres in particular looks a shadow of the player that left Lisboa in the summer. Xg 0.25 to 0.09. After the excitement of Bodø this is the Yang to the Ying. Or maybe it's the Ying to the Yang. 

Second Half 

The lions back out first as we await the return of the Gunners for the second half. Confirmation the booking wasn't shown to Suárez. Someone's getting sacked in the morning. 

Sporting get us underway, no changes from either side. Sporting attack left to right.

45 White concedes a corner far side with less than 30 seconds gone cutting out an Araújo cross 

46 Arsenal clear the corner. Sporting appealed for a penalty but the referee not interested as Inácio went down under the smallest of nudges in the back 

48 Suárez tries to find Trincão on the right but poor pass from the Colombian 

48 Trossard trickles a shot from 23 yards past the left hand post 

49 Inácio tries to pick the run of Geny into the box and the diminutive Mozambique winger flung himself at it but couldn't connect. If only he was a foot taller 

51 The mister watches on tongue out deep in concentration, gives his faithful Casio a little wiggle 

51 Araújo fouls Madueke and Arsenal have a free kick two yards to the right of the 18 yard box 

52 Ødegaard stood over the free kick. The lions with a line of seven defenders. Rui Silva sees the ball over the bar for a corner nearside 

53 Trincão flicks the ball onto the roof of the net for another corner 

54 Trossard hangs a cross up but Silva punches clear 

56 Trincão pulls his shot wide of the right post from 10 yards after a cut back from Araújo wide left 

57 Trincão with the Maradona drag back in the middle of the park brings some form of entertainment to the game 

57 Corner near side to the lions as Calafiori took no chances with Geny baring down.

58 Referee blows for a free kick to Arsenal from the corner as Bragança waits to come on

60 Huge cheers as Rice hunted down from Trincão. I forgot he was even playing having not mentioned the ex-West Ham midfielder once 

61 ➡️ ⬅️ Bragança for Simões 

62 Break in play as Ødegaard receives treatment 

62 GOAL Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1. Gyökeres however clearly offside in the buildup. Superb finish by Zubimendi to curl the ball in from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner. As you were. Note how play allowed to go on there versus the Taça against Porto when the assistant couldn't wait to call Geny wrongly offside 

64 Suárez with the knee into the thigh of Calafiori. Free kick correctly awarded then the Colombian waves his finger as if to say no. Not sure why 

66 Brilliant from Araújo who dances clear of Madueke with the ball on defensive duty in the far corner 

66 Gyökeres rolls one into the arms of Silva from 16 yards 

68 Inácio and Silva combined to stop the ball going out for a corner 

69 Arsenal now just starting to really dominate this contest for the first time tonight 

69 Gonçalves goes down having taken a whack from Rice 

69 ➡️⬅️ Havertz on for Ødegaard 

71 I don't know if it's nerves from the home fans or rent a crowd in but the atmosphere is poor tonight

71 Geny wastes an opportunity from the right and Arsenal head away. Going back to the point above perhaps it's a lack of things to cheer 

73 Gabriel nearly gets caught out on the far side near the halfway line but gets away with it

73 Madueke tries to pick Gyökeres out in the box but Diomande muscles the Swede off the ball

75 Dowman being readied to come on 

75 ➡️ ⬅️ Trossard and Madueke off. Dowman and Martinelli on. I'm still gutted he's neither called Martin Elly or at least Italian 

76 Diomande leaves one in on Gyökeres and the referee allows play to carry on to the delight of the home fans 

77 Martinelli can only pick out Inácio in the area

77 Geny shoots through the legs of Calafiori from 16 yards but the shot is wide of the right hand post 

78 ➡️ ⬅️ Nel for Gonçalves. Can the youngster score his third as a lion?

79 Araújo with a warm welcome for Dowman far side

80 Sporting in a 5-3-2 which I'm not sure I've ever written, now in a 5-4-1. 

80 Diomande clearance hits Havertz but the ball spins to safety

81 Thunder claps from the home fans trying to entertain themselves now 

81 Dowman penalised for a foul on Araújo. Half a dozen of one and six of the other 

82 Suárez finds Geny eight yards out and he somehow flicks a low header towards the bottom right hand corner and a big save from Raya who pushed the ball out for a corner. Best chance of the half for the lions by far 

84 Martinelli tries from 20 yards. Silva takes two attempts to grab the ball but with no blue shirt following on under no real danger 

85 The announcer with the attendance takes the opportunity to get the crowd singing once more 

86 Brilliant from Morita in the centre sends Sporting forward. Geny's effort from 8 yards saved and fell to Suárez who couldn't get his feet right and his shot from 3 yards is blocked by Raya 

89 Huge cheer for Araújo as he comes out with the ball in the far corner once more 

Plus two shown 

90 GOAL Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1. Fucking hell. Football is the cruelest of games. Martinelli’s lifted ball into the box found Havertz wide open. One touch to control the ball and slotted home. 

+2 Bragança's effort from 14 yards deflects clear of every Sporting shirt in close proximity 

+3 Fresneda cross falls into the arms of Raya

+3’15 Final whistle blows.

Full time 

Sporting CP 0 Arsenal 1 

The Final Word

Gyökeres shares an embrace with Diomande. Well done to those in attendance for not booing him throughout the game albeit in fairness he probably only touched the ball fifteen times and one of those was for the goal disallowed for offside so there wasn't much chance. Sporting gave the Premier League leaders maybe a little too much respect in the end but in truth they missed the pace of an Alisson or a Guilherme down the wings. They had their chances, Araújo with the effort which hit the bar and Raya with a fantastic save to keep out Geny's header in the second half. 

Christ that was somewhat of an anticlimax and not because of the scoreline. I'd rank that as the worst game I've watched this season in terms of entertainment and we must now be on about matchday 50. I'm glad I went out to watch the sunset before kick off so at least I've seen something worth watching tonight. I'm not sure at any stage in that game that I was unduly worried about Arsenal. Definitely not sure why I've had anxiety about it all day before kick off on that showing. Against PSG I was quite literally shitting myself every sixty seconds. The gap in quality between the Parisians and the Gunners is night and day and if we played PSG another 9 times I'd doubt we'd have won one of them they were that good and had they had the benefit of a full squad we'd have gotten a proper spanking. 

Can we talk about Gyökeres? What the hell has happened to him in the space of a year? I don't watch Premier League football anymore and I knew he'd come in for criticism but he looked a shadow of the player that played it the green and white of Sporting. I refuse to believe the same player is not still in there somewhere. Messi when he went to PSG didn't have a proper pre-season and that showed and hopefully he proves his critics wrong in the second season at Arsenal. Look I'm not stupid. Well maybe sometimes. I get there's a big difference between the Premier League and the Portuguese league but he's done it in the Europa League, the Champions League and he's just fired Sweden to a World Cup Finals so don't try sell me this notion he's not a talented player cause I'd not buy it. Although if you presented that performance as evidence and I'd not seen him play every game in a Sporting shirt then I'd take your point. He was not only the best forward in Portugal but the best left winger and the best right winger to boot. Here's a man who quite literally refused to countenance defeat and once he had one goal he'd not stop. He was relentless and a joy to watch and if you're an Arsenal fan reading this I promise every single word of that is true. Whether it's Arteta’s tactics and love of the NFL, a lack of confidence in his colleagues to let him do what he does best I'm not sure but it reminded me of watching Ian Rush I'm a Leeds shirt at the end of his career it was that painful. I said he should have gone to Italy in the summer but Serie A doesn't have the financial clout of the Premier League. Still in a season or two they might and Arsenal fans will be going where the fuck was that Gyökeres for us?

Anyways I did my level best to not make it about him in the warmup so I should try to do the same with my post game summary. 

I'm not sure which was harder to watch the game as a whole or the one lapse in concentration that led to the goal. Final Xg 0.84 to 0.78. Deduct the Xg for the goal and over the 90 minutes Arsenal would have had an Xg of 0.12. That was their sole big chance and it took them until additional time at the end of the 90 to fashion it. Did we give them too much respect? Blatantly. Can you necessarily blame them after last season's 5-1? Not at all. They're top of the Premier League for a reason although on that evidence I'd be fucked if I could tell you why and as I've already stated I don't watch the competition. My eyes on in terms of Arsenal stretches to the 5-1 last season and the 1-0 defeat to Inter and for large parts of this game we saw a similar lack of end product from the Gunners with crosses from the flanks easily headed clear. The irony is not lost on me or I'm sure of anyone else for that matter of a Sporting persuasion that we faced a far bigger mountain in the return leg of the Bodø game when we came away from Norway 3-0 down. The Library in North London is renowned for being a place where if you get a goal the natives will get restless very fucking quickly. This was always going to be a game about taking your chances and whilst we didn't have many, we came mighty close on more than one occasion. Raya certainly kept them in it with the save from Araújo after five minutes onto the bar and to keep Geny's header from nestling into the bottom right hand corner. I'm going to do an Arsene Wenger when I say I'll have to see the Suárez chance at the end because my feed froze and I genuinely didn't get a good eyes on.

Let's be fair it wasn't a vintage Sporting performance and man of the match might be the first time I've struggled to find four clear picks this entire campaign but when the game has all the feel of a group game with the table already decided, all I can really say is that I've seen us play far, far, far worse than they did tonight. Everyone basically registered as between a 6 and a 7 and against a side like Arsenal you needed an 8 in their somewhere from 2 or more or your players. As I've already pointed out at no stage was I genuinely fearful of their threat and worst things happen at sea. We've been to the library and won on penalties. They've come away with a 1-0 with a game against Manchester City to follow next week's game. They'll be the more disappointed tonight that they never came close to putting the tie to bed. Sporting need to show the same levels they put in against Bodø in the 5-0 and leave it all out on the pitch because I'd have money on it that this Arsenal side doesn't like being punched in the mouth. 

I'd be interested to know what the price of tickets was for tonight's game because the atmosphere was like we'd gone away to London in the first leg and had our arses handed to us 4-0 and the second game was a dead rubber. I suppose it's the same point with Gyökeres. If you'd never seen the stadium in full flow with the pyrotechnics behind the goals and the atmosphere the claques generate then you'd get to call bullshit on that evidence alone. Whether the weather also played a part you never know but this isn't a crowd who generally needs something to sing about to get into full flow and given the Estádio was far from full I wonder it someone's shot themselves in the foot when it comes to getting ticket prices wrong. That being said the only time I heard their fans make any noise was in the 90th minute and let's be fair the away fans are generally the ones who make you the hardcore of support and the bulk of noise which is why I keep calling their stadium the library because that's what it is. You go 2-0 up in the away leg and I swear we could empty the place quicker than a terror threat being called in. 

So let's go with the positives. Turns out someone's getting fired for putting the name of Suárez up as having been booked. He wasn't and we'll have Hjulmand back for the second leg and he'll be fulfilling a boyhood dream playing against the club he supports and carries a tattoo of. He's going to make the midfield a lot more interesting. Yes, OK I'm supposed to be finding positives from this game. I genuinely think when they watch the game back they'll be kicking themselves that they didn't just go for it more. I genuinely hadn't clocked Rice in the entire game until about an hour in and he's a £100 million midfielder. I'd try do the maths on the entire cost of the Sporting squad and we'd probably still not get there although it might be close. I'm not doing very well here am I? How about we start by thanking Gyökeres for being offside when their opening goal was disallowed. Diomande's kept him quiet all game and yes he's clearly not the same player that left Sporting but I'm not the only one before kick off that would have expected him to turn up and score tonight. Maybe Arteta was guilty of paying Sporting too much respect? I can't compare Arsenal games but having just lost to Manchester City and Southampton you never know. I hope they rest Raya for next week with the Manchester City game in mind. 

Let's just do four for man of the match. Jesus. Not the Arsenal player. Let's do Guess Who for old times sakes and get rid of some faces. Wasn't Bragança or Nel who did little or nothing coming on. Wasn't Simões, Fresneda or Gonçalves who all contributed but nothing really noteworthy. Wasn't Rui Silva who maybe could have done better for the goal and come out quicker. I'm going to have to Wenger that comment and watch the highlights back later. Certainly got done like a kipper for the Zubimendi goal. Wasn't overly impressed with Suárez and if I had to pick between Diomande and Inácio then the man from the Côte d’Ivoire gets the nod so that's Gonçalo out. So Diomande, Araújo, Morita, Geny and Trincão. I wasn't overly impressed with the Uruguayan tonight but that's only because of his high standards so sorry Maxi you made the five but not the four. I do note he made the most tackles in the game. Yes he has the first effort, but Ben White looked there for the taking and I think he was too concerned about Madueke and we didn't see the best of him tonight. 

So watch me try justify those choices. Right Diomande. Kept Gyökeres quiet all night, comfortable in the air and over a 90% pass completion. Looks made for this level of football and someone will have a bargain with him one day very soon. Morita. Does the simple things well time and time again and we saw his turn in the second half which he made look effortless and that's a true art. Never a yellow card for the challenge on Trossard. Yes he caught him with the follow through but he clearly won the ball with at least a ruler width to spare. Geny had the bulk of the attacking threat for the lions. His header given the height of the ball from the ground showed great intelligence and awareness and another player that will be left thinking actually I should have committed more going forward but still he's only got to nudge his way past 9 players on a 6 out of 10 to be in the final four. Which leaves Trincão. Wasn't afraid to take charge of the ball, always looking for that opening which is half the battle won. His Maradona drag back was probably one of the rare highlights of entertainment in the entire game. Tracked back into midfield and couldn't have given it much more than he did over the course of the 90 and he's my man of the match. 

Let's hope for more entertainment away to Estrela.