Even on Arsenal’s best day of the season there was a sting in the tail for Mikel Arteta. His side were well on their way to a tremendous and near-blemishless night in Lisbon before fears once again arose.
Taken off with just five minutes of normal time left, Gabriel Magalhaes’ late injury threatens to leave a dark mark on what had been a scintilating night. Entering Tuesday’s Champions League clash away at Sporting with it all to play for in the group phase, Arsenal ran out dominant 5-1 victors.
The Portuguese champions – now without Ruben Amorim at the helm – had beaten Manchester City 4-1 last time out. Arsenal did what their Premier League rivals couldn’t, though, and put the game out of reach when they were on top, entering the break 3-0 up rather than with it all to play for as Pep Guardiola had seen.
Sporting’s brief threat of getting back into the match lasted less a little over ten minutes as Bukayo Saka’s inch-perfect penalty added to first half goals from Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz, and the aforementioned Gabriel. His powerful header put the game to bed.
