Sporting lose to Arsenal, trail in Champions League quarters | OneFootball

Sporting lost to Arsenal (1-0) this Tuesday, April 7, in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. After the epic comeback against Bodo/Glimt, the English side’s victory leaves the Lions at a disadvantage in the tie.

Playing at the José Alvalade Stadium, both teams looked for ways to change the course of a match marked by great balance. The Alvalade club responded well to the Londoners’ high press and even hit the crossbar through Maxi Araújo in the opening minutes, but Mikel Arteta’s side also showed great defensive solidity.

In the second half, the balance remained, although Arsenal put Sporting under heavy pressure for several minutes. In the 67th minute, Martin Zubimendi did put the ball in Rui Silva’s net, but VAR disallowed the goal for an offside position by Viktor Gyokeres. The only goal of the game came in stoppage time at 90+1 through Kai Havertz, who found himself one-on-one with the Sporting goalkeeper and made no mistake.

With this defeat – their seventh in 46 matches this season – Rui Borges’ men still believe they can reach the competition’s semi-finals. The second leg will be played on Wednesday, April 15, at 8:00 pm, at the Emirates Stadium.

Before that, the green-and-white side return to action next Saturday, April 11, against Estrela da Amadora. The match, part of the 29th round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, against the team coached by João Nuno, will kick off at 8:30 pm at the José Gomes Stadium.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.