Havertz scores late winner to give Arsenal advantage in Champions League quarter-final tie | OneFootball

Substitutes Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz combined in a moment of sheer quality to win Arsenal the hardest of first-leg victories in a tense Champions League quarter-final.

Both players have had their critics this season, but this flash of brilliance showed why Mikel Arteta sent on his dynamic duo with 20 minutes to go. Martinelli skipped past a couple of challenges as he cut in from the left and clipped a pass into his German team-mate, who deftly controlled with one foot and poked into the net with the other.

A draw would have been a great result. The win could be all that Arsenal need to progress.

Defeats in their last two matches – the League Cup final against Manchester City and Saturday’s FA Cup exit at Championship side Southampton – had created a sense of unease. They needed to stop the rot.

The opening phases suggested it would be anything but straightforward in the lashing Lisbon rain and a goalless half-time scoreline is one Arsenal would have settled for at the end of the match, but they showed more ambition after the break.

They had more of the ball and made attacking substitutions to try and force a win. Martin Zubimendi even had the ball in the net and the ‘goal’ had long been celebrated before Viktor Gyokeres was ruled offside in the build-up.

Then, when least expected, came the late goal to send the 2,500 travelling Arsenal fans tucked high up – and out of the rain – home with something to sing about.

The two sides will meet again for the second leg in London on Wednesday April 15.