Arsenal returned with a thrilling 1-0 victory from their hosts Sporting Lisbon’s home ground on Tuesday evening, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at the Estádio José Alvalade.
Arsenal’s only goal was scored by Kai Havertz in the 90th minute.
The return leg will be played at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 15 April to decide who progresses to the semi-finals, where they will face the winner of the all-Spanish clash between Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.
Sporting Lisbon were the better side in the opening minutes of the match and came close to opening the scoring early on in the sixth minute, with a powerful shot from Araujo inside the box that struck the crossbar.
Arsenal’s response was not long in coming, courtesy of their weapon of choice this season, when Madueke took a tricky corner in the 15th minute, firing a direct shot towards goal that also struck the crossbar.
With Arsenal dominating possession, they came close to capitalising on their control in the 64th minute, opening the scoring with a shot from the edge of the box by Zubimendi that found the net, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review revealed that Gioceres was offside in the build-up.
Arsenal managed to score the decisive winner in the second minute of stoppage time, after Martinelli played a magical pass into the penalty area for Havertz, who found himself one-on-one with the Sporting goalkeeper and slotted the ball into the net, ending the match with a 1-0 victory for the London side.