Arsenal had struggled for goals, three blanks in their previous four matches; out of the Carabao Cup, their Premier League title challenge grievously undermined. It was just too hard without all of their injured forwards, wasn’t it? Here, Mikel Arteta’s team gave their riposte.
It was one-way traffic from the outset and when Leandro Trossard got his goal, ensuring that all three of Arteta’s makeshift frontline had scored, it was 5-1 and there were only 48 minutes on the clock. PSV Eindhoven were humiliated.
Mikel Merino, who before the trip to Leicester four games ago had never played as a centre-forward, scored for 3-1 and before that, there was a cracker from Ethan Nwaneri. He became the third-youngest player to find the net in a Champions League knockout tie after Bojan Krkic and Jude Bellingham and it was tempting to focus on him, to say that this was the 17-year-old’s night above all of the others.
Players of Nwaneri’s age should not have such intelligence with their runs, such composure in possession, such assurance with their decision-making. And that is before we talk about the sharpness of his turns, the blistering acceleration.
Yet that would be to do plenty of others a disservice – especially the captain, Martin Ødegaard. When he ran through to score his second goal for 6-1, there was applause for him from some of the PSV fans by the press box. At times, it looked as though he was playing with his own ball.
It was a night to make early checks on Arsenal’s previous record away wins in the Champions League. For the record, they were the 5-1 against Inter in 2003 and the 4-0 – PSV again – in 2002. They were surpassed. The two legs of this last‑16 meeting had been talked up as make‑or-break for the prolongation of Arsenal’s season. Now, the feelgood factor is back, the excitement crackling about a quarter-final against one of the Madrid clubs. By then, Gabriel Martinelli and possibly Bukayo Saka could have recovered from their injuries.
The soundtrack to the occasion was provided by the sighs of the home support. What has happened to PSV? The Dutch champions were flying when the Eredivisie broke for winter, six points clear at the top. They now lag eight behind the new leaders, Ajax, having won only one in seven in the competition. They also crashed out of the Dutch Cup here last Wednesday – their first home defeat since November 2022. The old line about London buses applied.
Eindhoven was in the grip of the sights and smells of its annual carnival; the Philips Stadion pulsed to a raucous beat before kick-off. Arsenal knew they needed to master the occasion and it was so encouraging to see them start as they did – bit between their teeth, advertising possibility whenever they passed and moved.
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Lille scored with their first shot on target in the 68th minute through Hakon Haraldsson (pictured) to earn a 1-1 draw at Borussia Dortmund after Karim Adeyemi gave the hosts a half-time lead in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.
The Germans, last year’s beaten finalists, were frustrated with the result after failing to extend their advantage in the opening period despite several chances.
They took their foot off the gas after the break to concede a deserved equaliser from the French side who waited patiently for their opportunity.
Dortmund needed some time to get into the game before Adeyemi fired them into a 22nd-minute lead with an unstoppable low drive that went in off the post.
Nico Schlotterbeck came close to a second goal in the 38th but his powerful shot narrowly missed the target. Pascal Gross did put the ball in the net from close range on the stroke of half-time but his effort was offside.
The Germans, who have struggled in the Bundesliga this season and are in 10th place and at risk of missing out on next season’s Champions League, eased off after the break.
Lille, who failed to break through a solid Dortmund backline for more than an hour, finally succeeded with a quick passing move as an off-balance Haraldsson beat goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Haraldsson is only the second Icelandic player to score in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Despite some late pressure, Dortmund failed to carve out any clear chances and then had midfielder Daniel Svensson taken off with a suspected knee injury after Lille’s André Gomes stepped on his foot from behind.
“Tough game today and we did not show what we had set out to do,” said Adeyemi. “Now we have to do it at their stadium. We had wanted to keep a clean sheet and score as many as possible.” Reuters
Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP
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The strange thing was that having begun brightly, Ødegaard and Declan Rice getting into dangerous areas, Arsenal ought to have conceded for 1-0 when David Raya pushed a low cross straight to the feet of Ismael Saibari, who could only rattle the woodwork. Ryan Flamingo was off target on the rebound. Saibari had to do better.
Rice created the breakthrough, spinning and standing up a cross from the left to the back post where Jurriën Timber rose to power home and Arsenal’s second was made at their Hale End Academy. It was Myles Lewis-Skelly pulling back from the left and Nwaneri’s technique took the breath away. The first-time left-footed finish exploded high into the net.
Ethan Nwaneri scores Arsenal’s second goal. Photograph: David Price/Arsenal FC/Getty Images
There was controversy when Lewis-Skelly, on a booking for a foul on Luuk de Jong, went in hard and late on Richard Ledezma, the PSV full-back writhing on the ground to make his team’s point – it was surely a second yellow card. The referee, Jesús Gil Manzano, who is not known in Spain for keeping his cards in his pocket, did precisely that. Arteta withdrew Lewis-Skelly not long after. It was one of the many indications that it was Arsenal’s night.
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Arteta praises Arsenal players on ‘special’ record-breaking night
By the time of the substitution, it was 3-0, the concession a horror show for PSV as they failed to clear and then Flamingo just fell over, allowing Merino to sidefoot home. A lengthy VAR check for offside did not spare PSV.
Noa Lang pulled one back from the penalty spot after Thomas Partey had checked De Jong on a corner. De Jong also headed a gilt-edged chance high before half-time.
But nobody thought there was a route back into it for PSV. They were just too open, too easy to play around and through. Arsenal luxuriated in their time on the ball and they landed a one-two punch upon the second‑half restart.
Nwaneri burned Tyrell Malacia for pace before crossing for Ødegaard to make it 4-1, the ball breaking kindly for him after a weak Walter Benítez parry. It was five when Riccardo Calafiori – who had come on for Lewis-Skelly – released Trossard and his dinked finish was a beauty.
The chances kept coming. They contented themselves with another for Ødegaard, Benítez flapping weakly at the ball, and one for Calafiori, whose shot rolled in off the far post. You can only beat what is in front of you. Arsenal did that and then some.
