GOALS FROM DANNY Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey helped Arsenal secure passage into the semi-finals of the Europa League with a 2-2 draw against CSKA Moscow in Thursday’s quarter-final second leg.
Fedor Chalov and Kirill Nababkin struck in the opening 50 minutes to threaten a dramatic turnaround in the tie, but Welbeck and Ramsey scored in the final quarter of an hour to seal a 6-3 aggregate victory.
In a week that has seen Roma shock Barcelona and Juventus almost beat Real Madrid in remarkable Champions League quarter-final matches, much of the pre-match talk in Russia focused on the need for Arsenal to put in a professional performance to defend their 4-1 first-leg advantage.
They were punished for slack defending in each half through Chalov and Nababkin, though, as Viktor Goncharenko’s side showed signs they would punish the Gunners’ complacency and snatch a spot in the last four.
But Welbeck, starting wide on the left in place of the injured Henrikh Mkhitaryan, started and finished Arsenal’s first particularly slick move before Ramsey netted on the counter-attack deep into injury time as they survived a major scare.
CSKA looked unlikely to threaten the latest European comeback in a tepid first half-hour, with the best of the early opportunities falling to Alexandre Lacazette, who was denied by a good block from Aleksei Berezutski.
The home side were dealt a blow when the creative Alan Dzagoev was forced off with injury 38 minutes in, but they were given some hope in the tie barely 90 seconds later.
Chalov reacted quickest to turn in the rebound after Petr Cech saved Nababkin firm downward header.
The Gunners goalkeeper would have hoped for a quicker response from his defenders after making the save, and there was a case of deja vu five minutes into the second half, when Nababkin beat Hector Bellerin to the loose ball to fire home after Cech had parried Aleksandr Golovin’s drive from 30 yards.
The visitors responded with a spell of possession, but Mohamed Elneny’s headed finish was correctly ruled out for offside at the end of one of their few promising attacking moves by that stage.
Wenger brought on Calum Chambers for the ineffective Jack Wilshere in a bid to strengthen his side’s defensive set-up, but more lacklustre work in their own box allowed 38-year-old Sergei Ignashevich to volley inches wide of the left-hand post.
However, just as CSKA threatened again, they were stunned by a brilliant piece of play from Welbeck.
The England forward spun into space down the left, found Elneny and latched on to the Egyptian’s superb through ball before curling a shot past Igor Akinfeev.
The goal silenced the atmosphere at the CSKA Arena and Arsenal saw out the closing minutes with ease.
Akinfeev denied Welbeck a second with a fine save, and Ramsey dispatched a good finish with practically the last kick of the game after Elneny played him into clear space on the break.
The Premier League side must now await their fate in Friday’s semi-final draw in Nyon, as they aim to keep their challenge for the trophy, and an automatic spot in next season’s Champions League group stage alive.
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The banter will be flying when arsenal finish 6th and win the Europa league, getting into the champions league, while spurs finish fourth and get sfa
@COYBIG: Unlikely to happen with Atletico still in it. The safe money is on them to win it out. They are stronger than Arsenal pretty much everywhere.
@Michael Kelly: yea they are stronger … but can see arsenal for some odd reason doing it .. athleticism might rip them apart on the counter
@Michael Kelly: atletico lost to a poor enough Sporting side tonight and the stats show they were all over them, so Atletico aren’t invincible by any means
@COYBIG: but 4th would still get Spurs into the champions league regardless of Arsenal winning the Europa?
@Gareth Keenan: oh crap you’re right, I was thinking of when they finished 4th the year Chelsea won the champions league and came 6th. Forgot the rules have changed to allow 5 teams from the same country
@COYBIG: yea happened to me last year … think the rules are better this way
Imagine how insufferable the lads (and lasses) on this app will be if Liverpool and Arsenal win the European trophies. My god.
Can’t deny it would some craic to see them win in fairness.
@Brian: I think your a Liverpool fan not sure ,,, be funny alright , don’t see it happening as long as you don’t draw Bayern in the semis ,,, pray salah doesn’t get injured way to reliant on him lately especially since coutinho got solddon’t think yee have the squad compared to Munich and Madrid ,, especially defensively . … in fairness games against city best team won , but pool did get the rub of the green ,, twice really ,,not taking anything away from them,, united and arsenal were getting it for years .. that won’t happen against Madrid , but again still the odds in 2005 which where way bigger odds ,, champions league is a funnny competition… hope it happens tho , not arsenal don’t have the bottle against atletico
@Patrick Dara Kelly: Liverpool and Madrid would be a great tie, both have the attacking mentality and power to take control of a tie within a few minutes. Pity Barca are out, as much as this Roma story is great you get the feeling their final was on Tuesday. Hard to predict though, could be a few surprises yet.
@Patrick Dara Kelly: Can’t make any sense of what you’re saying Patrick. What’s with all the commas,,,,,? :-)
@Patrick Dara Kelly: sore head after trying to read that
@Mel Roberts: sorry lads auto correction on stupid phone … my bad
They really can’t do things the easy way. Fair play to CSKA they made a good game of it, that Golovin looks a pretty decent prospect
Yeoooow a European semi final! Can’t wait. Win win situation as if we get Madrid in semis I’ll get to go to the away leg and if we dodge them then more than likely into a final. Buzzing