Arsenal 1 Sporting 1 (agg 3-3 aet, pens 3-5): Gunners crash OUT of Europa League as Martinelli misses crucial spot-kick
KIM KARDASHIAN brought a touch of Tinseltown sparkle to North London but even she couldn’t help Arsenal keep up with their double ambitions.
The queen of reality TV was a surprise Emirates onlooker as Mikel Arteta’s weary warriors lost their way again in Europe.
Gabriel Martinelli was left heart-broken when his shoot-ouit penalty was saved by keeper Antonio Adan.
And though Arteta still have the chance to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points on Sunday, Arteta will still be counting the cost of going so strong in a competition which has never been top of the club’s priorities.
For first-half injuries to Takehiro Tomiyasu and William Saliba means they are now facing a defensive dilemma just when they need all hands to the pump.
And with Gabriel Jesus only lasting 45 minutes before being replaced by Leandro Trossard, many fans will be wondering why Arteta took so many risks with a team which has been for some time.
Yet it wasn’t so much the injuries as the nature of this defeat which will be causing Arteta sleepless nights.
Just as in the first leg in Lisbon last week, his team were unable to hold on to an early lead and were repeatedly exposed by the raw pace of Sporting’s forwards.
And while it might have required an extraordinary 46-yard equaliser to drag the former Portuguese Champions back into this tie, no-one can deny that they deserved their place in today’s quarter-final draw.
In the end it took a penalty shoot-out to finally separate two teams who gave their absolute all in this relentless battle of wills.
Aaron Ramsdale went the right way for all five Sporting pens but just couldn’t keep any of them out of his net.
And though Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard all hit the back of the net, Martinelli’s miss was an agonising way for Arsenal to exit the competition.
Yet no-one could have seen such a dramatic finale coming when Arsenal took the lead in the 19th minute after Jorginho’s piercing through ball had sent Gabriel Martinelli haring in on goal.
And though Adan was able to keep out the young Brazilian’s low shot with an outstretched boot, he was powerless to prevent Xhaka’s follow-up thumped into the roof of the net.
Jesus thought he should have had a penalty when he was upended by Matheus Reis but had strayed marginally offside before he raced into the area.
And he was out of luck again in the 30th minute when he weaved his way past three defenders but was thwarted by another fine reaction save from Adan.
Yet it was never straiughtforward for Arsenal and they were fortunate to escape a mix-up between Oleksandr Zinchenko and Aaron Ramsdale following a long punt out by Adan.
While both men left it to the other to deal with the threat, Marcus Edwards was allowed to get a clear sight of goal before Zinchenko finally stepped in to block.
There was another lack of communication in the ranks shortly before half-time and this time Jermiah St.Juste was able to charge right through the heart of the Arsenal defence before firing over from the edge of the area.
Arsenal seemed intent on sleepwalking their way into trouble and sure enough they found themselves deep in the brown stuff in the 62nd minute when they were hit with an absolute bolt from the blue.
Xhaka and Jorginho were unable to retain possession but there still seemed little danger when Pedro Goncalves took possession on the halfway line.
But the Portuguese international clearly had other ideas and spotting Ramsdale off his line sent the ball soaring over the Arsenal keeper’s head from an astonishing 46 yards out.
It was a remarkable goal by anyone’s standards and let’s hope that Kardashian doesn’t think that kind of thing happens every week.
But if Ramsdale was caught out on that one, he more than made amends with a huge save ten minutes later when Edwards was in on goal again.
That was enough to take the tie into extra-time, when Trossard had a shot tipped against a post, and Rob Holding headed just over.
But even when Manuel Ugarte was shown a second yellow for a shocking challenge on Bukayo Saka, Arsenal couldn’t take advantage of their numerical superiority to avoid the lottery of a shoot-out.