Arsenal survive scare to progress, Atletico Madrid limp into Europa League semifinals

Arsenal have booked their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League thanks to a 6-3 aggregate victory against CSKA Moscow.

The Gunners led 4-1 from the first leg but were made to work hard for their passage through in the end, as the Red-Blues moved to within one goal early in the second half.

Danny Welbeck struck to continue his good form, however, finding a way through from his side's first attempt on target for a crucial goal, and Aaron Ramsey added a late second to earn a 2-2 draw on the night.

Arsenal failed to get out of first gear in a sloppy first half in which they were unable to come close to testing Igor Akinfeev in the opposition goal.

For the opening 25 minutes it mattered little, as CSKA were also struggling to create any openings as they went in search of a first win in seven attempts against an English opponent on home soil.

A dragged Kristijan Bistrovic shot aside, it took until half an hour in for the first real attempt, with Alexandre Lacazette being picked out in a good position but seeing his shot blocked by Aleksei Berezutski in front of goal.

The visitors were looking a lot less comfortable when Fedor Chalov netted his first Europa League goal of the season, though, giving the Red-Blues something to build on.

Aleksandr Golovin headed Konstantin Kuchaev's cross on target for Petr Cech to push out, only for Chalov to latch on to the rebound and fire the ball home for a key goal on the night.

A good chance for Bistrovic to add a second before the break came and went, curling the ball wide from the edge of the box, but it was CSKA who had momentum on their side heading into the second half.

The hosts, denied a penalty late in the opening 45 minutes when the ball struck Ramsey's hand, had their third goal of the tie five minutes after the restart through Kirill Nababkin.

Banned for the first leg, the fullback marked his return to the side by blasting home a rebound following some questionable goalkeeping from Cech, who this time parried Golovin's longrange shot into Nababkin's path.

Mohamed Elneny then had a goal correctly ruled out for offside and Laurent Koscielny sent an awkward volleyed chance over the crossbar as the Gunners attempted to grab a foothold.

With CSKA the side in the ascendancy, though, and Sergey Ignashevich becoming the latest to test Cech, Arsene Wenger brought on Calum Chambers and went with three at the back.

That switch in formation appeared to work, as Welbeck tucked the ball past Akinfeev after exchanging passes with Elneny - one of two enforced Arsenal changes tonight - with 15 minutes left to play.

Atletico Madrid limp into Europa League semi-finals

Atletico Madrid limped into the semi-finals of the Europa League despite a 1-0 defeat away at Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their quarter-final clash in Portugal yesterday evening.

Diego Simeone's men toiled for much of the night at the Estadio Jose Alvalade and were ultimately beaten by Fredy Montero's header, only for the Spanish club to benefit from a 2-0 win in the first leg in order to help them progress with a 2-1 aggregate victory.

Simeone's charges were well off the pace in the first 45 minutes, Sebastian Coates beating the leap of his marker to draw a fine save from Oblak, who dived with an outstretched right to keep the scores level.

Lisbon continued to cause issues down the flanks and they took the lead when Bruno Fernandes crossed into the box to leaving Oblak flapping, before Montero broke free at the back post to head back across goal and make it 1-0 to the hosts.

With very few signs of an Atletico response, Sporting might just have drew level on aggregate before the interval, although Gelson Martins made a mess at the far post after being found by a wonderful ball from deep courtesy of Acuna.

Atletico were much improved after half time and the visitors' first real chance landed at the feet of Antoine Griezmann, who could only send a tame effort straight at Rui Patricio from a wide and improbable angle.

Sporting still offered glimpses of danger too and Montero might have done better when the ball dropped kindly in the middle of the area, but he could only drill straight into the grateful arms of Oblak.

Griezmann was anonymous for much of the evening but the Frenchman almost made the final 10 minutes more comfortable for Atletico, although he saw his free kick from range fade just a few inches wide with Patricio looking beaten.

The Frenchman was presented with two other opportunities in the closing stages, but once more he came up short as he first fired straight at Patricio, before dragging another wide despite breaking cleverly into space beyond the defence on both occasions.

In the end the misses were not to matter as Sporting failed to create a much-needed surprise late on, leaving Simeone's charges to edge through into the final four after an uncharacteristically lacklustre display on the road.

Yesterday’s results

Europa League

CSKA Moscow-Arsenal . . . . . . . . . . . 2-2 Marseille-RB Leipzig . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-2 Salzburg-Lazio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1 Sporting-Atl. Madrid . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0

ENGLAND

League One Bradford-Shrewsbury . . . . . . . . . . . . 0-0

ITALY

Serie C - Group B Santarcangelo-Sudtirol . . . . . . . . . . . 1-0