Arsenal reached the Champions League semifinals after riding their luck in a nervous goalless draw against Sporting Lisbon that clinched a 1-0 aggregate victory on Wednesday.
Mikel Arteta’s team were well below their best in the quarterfinal second leg at the Emirates Stadium. But they held onto their slender first-leg advantage as Sporting failed to make them pay for the latest in a growing list of angst-ridden performances.
The Gunners will face Atletico Madrid for a place in the final after the Spanish club went through 3-2 on aggregate against Barcelona on Tuesday.
Arsenal crushed Atletico 4-0 in the group stage at the Emirates in October, but they will have to improve significantly to reach the final for the first time since 2006.
Arsenal have reached the Champions semifinals in two consecutive seasons for the first time in their history. Yet after losing three of their last five games in all competitions and winning just once, they remain a puzzling side in the midst an untimely stumble.
Arteta had challenged Arsenal to play with “pure fire” and “zero fear” in an unusually passionate press conference on Tuesday. The response was hardly emphatic as Arsenal quickly retreated into their shell in another display lacking cohesion and quality in the final third.
Arsenal haven’t lifted the Premier League since 2004 and have never won the Champions League. The Premier League leaders are on course to achieve both targets, but the flaws in Arteta’s side have become increasingly clear in recent weeks.
Losing the League Cup final against Manchester City and the FA Cup quarterfinal against second-tier Southampton was bad enough. But a shock 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday left Arteta facing pointed questions about Arsenal’s character that remain unanswered.
Arsenal are just six points ahead of second-placed City, who have a game in hand and host the Gunners in a seismic showdown on Sunday.
The north Londoners have finished Premier League runners-up for the past three seasons — twice blowing substantial leads to City in 2023 and 2024 — and the nerves are mounting.
Responding to Arteta’s call for a fiery performance, Arsenal pressed furiously in the opening 10 minutes but couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Once that initial assault petered out, Arsenal wobbled at the back and William Saliba’s wayward pass led to Francisco Trincao curling wide from the edge of the area.
Former Sporting striker Viktor Gyokeres has endured an erratic debut season with Arsenal and once again he struggled to make an impact.
Gyokeres had only one serious sight of goal after a burst into the Sporting six-yard box, but he didn’t get his shot off in time and Goncalo Inacio’s tackle snuffed out the danger.
Without the injured Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, Arsenal were too often slow and unambitious in attack.
They grew increasingly edgy in a first half played out to a soundtrack of anxious groans from their frustrated fans.
Gunners ‘keeper David Raya nearly gifted Sporting a goal with a woeful pass that was intercepted by Trincao, whose miscued attempt to find Luis Suarez in the penalty area let Arsenal off the hook.
Geny Catamo was inches away from punishing Arsenal’s lethargy when he volleyed against the far post from an acute angle just before half-time.
Eberechi Eze’s drive whistled narrowly wide after the interval, before Gabriel Martinelli blasted just over and Noni Madueke shot into the side-netting.
Arteta responded by sending on Kai Havertz for Gyokeres, while Max Dowman replaced the injured Madueke.
Sporting appealed in vain for a penalty after Cristhian Mosquera’s slight push on Maxi Araujo. Arsenal were creaking but they held firm as Arteta breathed a sigh of relief.
In Munich, late strikes from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise sealed a dramatic 4–3 win for Bayern Munich over Real Madrid on Wednesday, clinching a 6–4 aggregate victory and setting up a semifinal with holders Paris Saint-Germain.
The tie was level at the break in the second leg after a scintillating opening half, with record 15-time European champions Real going ahead three times on the night.
Bayern won 2-1 last week in the Spanish capital, but Arda Guler pounced on a loose Manuel Neuer pass to put the visitors ahead after just 34 seconds at the Allianz Arena. He scored again from a free-kick after Aleksandar Pavlovic equalised.
Harry Kane put Bayern back ahead in the tie only for Kylian Mbappe to restore parity overall when he put Madrid 3-2 up before half-time.
Eduardo Camavinga was sent off for a second yellow card with four minutes left and Bayern pushed forward, Diaz blasting into the corner from outside the box after a crucial deflection.
With Real pressing for an equaliser, Olise curled in a magnificent shot to rubberstamp Bayern’s ticket to the last four and keep alive their quest for a seventh European crown. They will head to Luis Enrique’s PSG at the end of the month.
Tempers boiled over after the final whistle with Guler picking up a straight red for confronting the referee.
“We got off to a bad start, and then conceded again through a free-kick and a counter. The first half was hectic,” Joshua Kimmich told DAZN.
“The second half was calmer, we had more control – and then managed to win it in the end. It wasn’t our best performance, but we’ll take the win.
“The two best teams in Europe will face each other. We had many top level games against Paris in recent years. I’m looking forward to it.”
The defeat for Real effectively ended their season as they look set to finish without a major trophy for the second year running. Barcelona hold a nine-point lead in La Liga and Real suffered a shock last-16 exit in the Copa del Rey.
“I feel for them (the players), for the effort they made. It hurts,” coach Alvaro Arbeloa told Movistar. “I’m very proud. We’re going back to Madrid after giving it our all.”
For the first time in Real’s long Champions League history, their starting XI did not contain a single Spanish player. Jude Bellingham, who impressed off the bench in the first leg, was one of four changes to the line-up made by Arbeloa.
Neuer, widely lauded after a vintage performance in Madrid, gifted Real an opener. The Bayern goalkeeper miscued a pass directly to Guler, who floated a first-touch shot into the unguarded goal in the first minute.
Bayern looked stunned but struck back almost immediately when Pavlovic headed in a Kimmich corner after Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin failed to read the flight of the ball.
The match had barely time to settle before Real were ahead once more thanks to a Guler goal, with Neuer again not at his best.
The Turkey international whipped a free-kick into the top corner which Neuer got a hand to but was unable to keep out.
The match continued to swing back and forth before the break, as Kane struck first before Mbappe responded by getting himself on the scoresheet.
Kane slotted clinically into the bottom corner in the 38th minute to again haul Bayern level on the night — and ahead in the tie — before Mbappe ran onto a Vinicius Junior pass and slotted home to level the tie 4-4 on aggregate.
With Real regularly cutting into Bayern’s high line, coach Vincent Kompany responded by introducing the pace of Alphonso Davies at the interval.
Both sides traded chances in the second half, with Olise particularly dangerous, forcing a fingertip save from Lunin with 20 minutes left.
Camavinga came on midway through the half but picked up two yellow cards in quick succession to leave his team a man down in the closing stages.
It proved a turning point as Bayern struck three minutes later when Diaz’s effort took a touch off Eder Militao and flashed beyond Lunin.
Olise made certain of Bayern’s progress deep into stoppage time as the German giants took down Real in a knockout clash for the first time since 2012. (JapanToday)
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