Aubameyang and Saka keep Arsenal’s season alive
Arsenal win 4-3 on agg
With the clock ticking down and Arsenal’s season on the brink of collapse, Bukayo Saka and Pierreemerick Aubameyang looked around at their faltering team-mates and took matters into their own hands.
Arsenal needed rescuing in this wild Europa League tie, having played themselves into the most perilous of positions, and there was an inevitability to the fact that teenager Saka and Aubameyang, the leader of this team, were the players who seized the opportunity.
Just as they had in the first half, Saka and Aubameyang combined to rip apart the Benfica defence in one move. Saka to Aubameyang to goal: repeat as required.
Mikel Arteta’s side were three minutes from despair and in desperate need of a hero when all seemed lost in Greece. They had giftwrapped three goals for Benfica over the course of this tie and looked likely to go out on away goals in a home leg taking place in Athens.
Such indignity would have been fodder for the history books, not to mention the entire fan base of Tottenham Hotspur. Dani Ceballos would have been the villain of the story for Arsenal, having been the primary culprit for both of Benfica’s goals on the night.
Instead, it became all about Saka and Aubameyang again, albeit with a crucial helping hand from Kieran Tierney, the scorer of their second.
At this stage last season, Aubameyang missed a huge opportunity in the final moments as they were knocked out by Olympiacos. It felt almost poetic that, this time around, he made no mistake.
“That was the first image that came through my mind when he scored,” Arteta said. “This is the beautiful thing about football. If you keep going you always have the chance to put it right.
“I completely trust Auba. You know when he has chances he is going to score goals. The last few days after the game in Rome, where he missed three or four opportunities, he needed to react. The way he reacted is being upset and trying to be better. I am really pleased with what he has done.”
The overwhelming emotion for Arsenal would have been relief, although it was also a night that will provide Arteta’s players with hope for the future. They found a way to get the job done, despite making it far harder than it should have been, and such victories can prove transformative for a team’s collective psyche. “More nights like this please,” Saka tweeted.
Of course, Arsenal will need to improve if they are to go all the way. They cannot make the mistakes they made here and expect to progress against better opposition, with Ceballos fortunate his backwards header did not cost Arsenal the tie.
The midfielder had also conceded the free-kick that led to Benfica’s first goal of the night, a wonderful effort from Diogo Goncalves. At that stage Arsenal were in control of the match, with Aubameyang dinking them into the lead from Saka’s glorious through-ball.
Arsenal were pushing for more in the second half when a clearance came down from the Greek sky and landed on the head of Ceballos. Instead of knocking it forward, the Spaniard tried to flick it back to his goalkeeper. The idea was bad and the execution even worse. Rafa Silva pounced for Benfica, going around Bernd Leno and scoring the Portuguese side’s second.
On came Thomas Partey and Willian, two summer signings who simply had to prove their worth. Willian did so by finding Tierney in the box, where the Scot unleashed a fierce effort into the corner.
Arsenal still needed one more and they were getting increasingly desperate. Well, all except Saka. He cut inside from the right, looked up and put his cross on to the forehead of Aubameyang with three minutes remaining and Var ruled out a possible offside. It was some way to keep Arsenal’s season alive.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno 6; Bellerin 6 (Lacazette 78), Luiz 6, Gabriel 6, Tierney 7; Ceballos 5 (Partey 63), Xhaka 6; Saka 8 (Chambers 90), Odegaard 6 (Elneny 90), Smith Rowe 6 (Willian 63); Aubameyang 8. Subs Ryan (g), Hein (g), Cedric, Pepe, Pablo Mari, Nketiah, Martinelli.
Benfica (3-5-2) Helton 6; Verissimo 6, Otamendi 6, Vertonghen 7; Goncalves 7, Pizzi 6 (Everton 58), Weigl 6 (Waldschmidt 90), Taarabt 5 (Gabriel 58), Grimaldo 6 (Tavares 85); Rafa 7, Seferovic 5 (Nunez 57).
Subs Svilar (g), Vlachodimos (g), Pires, Cervi, Chiquinho, Pedrinho, Goncalo Ramos. Booked Taarabt.
Referee Bjorn Kuipers (Holland).