Mikel Arteta may have found a simple lesson after Arsenal’s difficult run of results: sometimes the answer is to play your best goalkeeper. With David Raya restored, Arsenal recovered from their cup exits and earned a late win in Lisbon, edging Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
There was plenty of temptation to focus on the decisive moment, because it could prove to be a season-shaping one. Arsenal had been told not to panic and not to let talk of a quadruple drift away into despair. Kai Havertz appeared to take that instruction seriously. In the first of two added minutes, Gabriel Martinelli delivered from the left and, as the ball dropped, Havertz showed excellent composure. He controlled it with a light touch, took a brief pause and rolled his finish past Rui Silva to secure victory.
It was the kind of ending Arsenal had been chasing for much of a frustrating evening at Estádio José Alvalade. They attempted 488 passes, but for long stretches the match never fully opened up for them. Arsenal controlled possession for periods, although the game became increasingly ragged in a tense finish, and the clearest signs of their dominance often came from set-piece pressure rather than fluent attacking play.
In open play, Arsenal looked restricted and at times sluggish. The performance was not without chances, but it was a match that demanded patience. Noni Madueke, deputising for Bukayo Saka on the right wing, struggled to make a major impact, though he did curl an early corner against the bar. Viktor Gyökeres, meanwhile, was present on the pitch, but not a decisive factor in the contest.
Leandro Trossard tried his luck from long range, attempting a shot from 40 yards. It did not go in. That was a fair summary of Arsenal’s attacking rhythm for much of the night: searching, occasionally inventive, but too often short of the sharpness needed to break Sporting down earlier.
Still, the result matters more than the manner at this stage of the competition. Arsenal arrived in Lisbon needing a response after their cup exits, and they found one, even if it came late and after a laborious display. Arteta had urged calm, and his side eventually produced a moment of quality when it mattered most.
Havertz’s winner may have been the obvious headline, but the wider story was Arsenal’s ability to keep going through a tough, attritional match. They were not at their best for long periods, yet they stayed in control enough to leave with an advantage in the tie. With the second leg to come, that late finish could yet shape their season.
