Arsenal claimed their third victory in the Champions League, defeating Sporting Clube de Portugal 5-1 in Lisbon on Tuesday night.
It was the perfect night for Mikel Arteta and Co., who only needed seven minutes to break the deadlock. Gabriel Martinelli's opener was followed by Kai Havertz's goal before Gabriel Magalhaes got on the scoresheet on the brink of half-time.
Bukayo Saka added to the scoreline from the penalty spot, and Leandro Trossard scored the Gunners' fifth late on. Sporting's Goncalo Inacio netted the consolation goal for the hosts as Viktor Gyokeres had an unusually quiet night.
The result saw Arsenal climb to seventh place on 10 points - the same as Sporting. Their next European game will be at home against Monaco in mid-December.
With that said, football.london has taken a look at how the Portuguese media reported on the events at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Filipa Reis of A Bola wrote: "Francisco Trincao tried to work his magic, but the show was different. The closest Gyokeres came to scoring was a shot that hit the woodwork... Captain Morten Hjulmand was the lung of a team that found itself in a tight spot.
Meanwhile, A Bola's Eduardo Pedrosa Marques added: "Saka gave the Lions' defence a run for their money and finished the race with a goal and an assist. David Raya responded to the green and white reaction and was able to count on the imposing presence of the central defenders. Martin Odegaard sweated but he left a trail of perfume in Alvalade. Havertz, Martinelli and Trossard also scored.
Defensively, the two central defenders stood out and won most of the individual duels (yes, including those with Gyokeres), and Gabriel Magalhaes still managed to score the third goal for the Londoners. Odegaard left his mark at Alvalade – the penalty he suffered was just (another) one of his moments – with the captain fighting until the end for the man of the match award. With the balance provided by Thomas Partey and Declan Rice, the front trio were able to explode several times, with special emphasis on the first half, in which English dominance was incomparably superior."
Diario de Noticias' Isaura Almeida penned: "Sporting made the game against Arsenal much more complicated than expected and ended up suffering a heavy defeat in the Champions League (5-1) - a competition in which the Lions remain well placed to progress in 8th place. It was a confusing and uneasy start to the game for Sporting. The stands were still singing 'The World Knows That...' at the top of their lungs when the first threat occurred.
"A mistake by Goncalo Inacio in the first minute of the game gave Riccardo Calafiori a golden opportunity to score, but the Italian missed the target. Worse than Ousmane Diomande's breakdown was seeing the difficulties Sporting had in overcoming Arsenal's first line of pressure, which trapped Gyokeres (Arteta had warned that he knew how to stop the Swede). In the seventh minute, Martinelli, alone at the far post, only had to touch the ball with his foot to score. The goal allowed the Lions to free up their attacking chances for a moment, but it was not enough to stop Arsenal, who would go on to make it 2-0, in a move identical to the first goal.
"Sporting struggled to counter Arsenal's possession, who were playing comfortably and with Saka causing chaos in the Sporting defence. Arteta learned from the best (he was Pep Guardiola's assistant) and gave a masterclass in how to deceive the opponent, making them think they were marking well and more confident in their circulation, in order to hurt them again. Gabriel made it 3-0 just before half-time and it was impossible to do worse in the second half. Alvalade still dreamed of a historic comeback, like the one achieved against Manchester City (4-1), but no two games are the same. Saka scored the 4-1 from the penalty spot, ending any fighting spirit that might have remained for the Lions."
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Sapo concluded: "Coincidences of coincidences: Ruben Amorim lost 5-1 at home to Ajax in his European debut for Sporting. Joao Pereira lost 5-1 at home, but to Arsenal, in his first European game in charge of the Lions. Sporting's lack of aggression in the first half also explains the rout. Arsenal were always able to link up the game effortlessly, through the flanks but also through the middle, led by Odegaard.
"The creative player almost always received the ball on the right wing, facing the game, and from there he designed almost all of the Londoners' attacks. Defensively, Arsenal gave Sporting little or nothing. This is because when Sporting tried to play offensively in a physical way, as they do in Portugal, they found a worthy opponent. Gyokeres could do little or nothing against William Saliba and Gabriel, two very fast and strong central defenders, very difficult to beat both on the ground and in the air.
"Even with so many men, Arteta's men always managed to find space to play the ball, always at the right time, to break the offside trap. That was how the first two goals came about, by Martinelli and Havertz in the seventh and 22nd minutes. Statistically, Arsenal shot less than Sporting (13 shots against 19), hit the same number of shots on target (9), but the Leao (Lion) only scored once. The difference is that Arsenal's shots were always more dangerous. This was only the third home defeat in the last three years for Sporting. The last one had been in the Europa League against Atalanta: they had gone 32 games without losing at home."
After the game, Sporting boss Joao Pereira said: "We didn't start the game well, we conceded a goal very early on and that made the team uneasy. Then, at the end of the first half, the players felt the 3-0. At half-time we adjusted well, in my opinion, the players reacted excellently in the first 20 minutes of the second half, until the unfortunate penalty.
"Then, and because we could have made it 3-2, we conceded 4-1, and from then on everything became much more complicated. We were penalised for the poor start to the game. We changed the formation at half-time, the players came together and tried to turn things around. They responded well in the first 20/25 minutes, but then it was the penalty that made things even more difficult."
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