Arsenal adavance into Europa League quarter-finals thanks to a double by Danny Welbeck but the talking point goes to his embarrassing dive that has lead to a penalty which cancels out Hakan Calhanoglu's stunner.
Goals
35' GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Milan (Calhanoglu)
39' Penalty Goal! Arsenal 1-1 Milan (Welbeck)
71' GOAL! Arsenal 2-1 Milan (Xhaka)
86' GOAL! Arsenal 3-1 Milan (Welbeck)
Match Report
A controversial penalty helped Danny Welbeck to a brace as Arsenal overcame a scare to beat AC Milan 3-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Leading 2-0 from the first leg at the San Siro, Arsene Wenger's men found themselves behind to a superb Hakan Calhanoglu strike 10 minutes before half-time.
But any momentum Milan were building up dissipated when one of the additional assistant referees indicated Ricardo Rodriguez had fouled Welbeck when contact was minimal at best.
On the day he received an England recall, Welbeck made no mistake form the spot to score his first European goal since a hat-trick against Galatasaray in October 2014.
Milan continued to ask plenty of questions until a dreadful error from their goalkeeping protege Gianluigi Donnarumma meant Granit Xhaka's speculative strike put the overall result beyond doubt and Welbeck struck again in the 86th minute.
Arsenal allowed Swedish minnows Ostersunds to make inroads into a healthy first-leg lead in the previous round and they started sloppily once more, gifting Fabio Borini space to advance down the right and cross for Andre Silva to lash into the side netting.
Laurent Koscielny's 11th-minute departure with an apparent back injury increased the defensive anxiety for the hosts, with Calum Chambers filling the void at centre-back, but they were warming to their task in an attacking sense.
A simmering contest burst into life 10 minutes before half-time when Calhanoglu unleashed a brilliant strike that swerved away from David Ospina and flew low into the right corner.
Arsenal's response was purposeful rather than panicked – Donnarumma palming an Aaron Ramsey shot to safety – and Welbeck converted coolly from 12 yards, even if the decision to award a penalty against Rodriguez for a foul on the England forward bordered on farcical.
Donnarumma saved from Ramsey as Arsenal looked to settle the issue early in the second period and Henrikh Mkhitaryan was unable to outfox the Italy international at his near post.
Back came Milan, with Suso flashing a shot past the bottom right corner from the edge of the area, although Ramsey should have done better than clattering over in the 56th minute after Mesut Ozil and Mkhitaryan pulled the Serie A side apart down their left-hand side.
Before the hour Milan forward Patrick Cutrone was unable to turn home an acrobatic volley with Ospina rooted on his line.
Suso's booking for simulation in the 61st minute did nothing for Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso's deteriorating mood, but his call to send on Nikola Kalinic almost proved inspired as the Croatia striker nearly headed home Leonardo Bonucci's raking pass with his first touch.
Wenger brought on Mohamed Elneny for Mkhitaryan to shore up his midfield and that freed up Xhaka to venture a little further forward and score from a shot Donnarumma should have dealt with in routine fashion. Instead, he seemingly dived beyond the ball and pushed it back into his own net.
Opsina thwarted Andre Silva and saw Suso thump a strike just over from the resulting corner, but it fell to Welbeck to have the final word, nodding in after Donnarumma denied Ramsey from Jack Wilshere's cross.
Line-ups
Arsenal XI: David Ospina, Koscielny, Monreal, Mustafi, Bellerín, Ramsey, J.Wilshere, Özil, G.Xhaka, Mkhitaryan, Welbeck
Subs: Petr Cech, Chambers, Kolasinac, Iwobi, A.M Niles, M.Elneny, Nketiah
Milan XI: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Romagnoli, Bonucci, R.Rodríguez, Calhanoglu, Montolivo, Kessié, Suso, A.Silva, Borini, Cutrone
Subs: Storari, Zapata, Musacchio, Bonaventura, Biglia, Locatelli, N.Kalinic
temkeneth01
170
Arsène wenger be like: am the one hère
ForzaMilanHalaMadrid
100
Well after 4 years out of Europe I think we made a decent performance . Still far from what we want but it was decent. Now it's time to fight for the 4th spot on the Serie A to get Champions League Qualification
Gogou Arsenal
75
It was an awesome performance from us Gunners. Congratulations to all the players who worked hard. Xhaka goal was exceptionally perfect. Everyone played well and we deserved to win. We're through to the Quarter Finals. #COYG
rameez_mulla1
45
Quarter finals here we come! Alexis Sanchez can watch on TV 🙄🤣🤣🤣🤣🖕🙈
anishupreti123
41
wenger be like:
ruhcdk
30
Things don't have to get this bad before Arsene wakes up to his responsibility and this also happens in the timing of the changes he makes. He pre-plans when to make the changes, not because they're necessary and that's why they are ineffective most times. Arsene is the Manager and he should be able to foresee issues before they arise; with his age and experience, he should be proactive, not reactive. Arsene sees the same thing happen year-in-year-out and he does not make any plan to address it and stop it. We lost the UCL at the same stage on more than three occassions yet Wenger could not do anything until it got to a stage where we could not even qualify to play in UCL again...ditto for the EPL title etc. We don't hate Wenger, but he should understand that the fans are not fools; the fact that they're investing their time, emotion and money should be appreciated because without them there'll be no AFC. Let us see how far we can go but my prayer is that we should win the Europa League and then we can start talking about house keeping after that. Serious house keeping has to be done because a beautiful brand like AFC should not be struggling in the EPL and Europe.
Barcelona-Arsenal
24
We looked firmly in control throughout both legs..... i will be honest, tgat was not a penalty, and tge ref made a few other pretty bad decisions against Milan. but i think once arsenal went 1 down from Hakan's brilliant shot, we looked determined and surely wouldve eventually scored. Poor game by donorruma, he couldve done better on a wilshere shot in the first half, shouldve saved xhaka's goal, couldve parried away the ball better on welbeck's second, etc. What a day for welbeck, called up for england friendlies, scores a double against milan that very day on to the quarter finals! we look good and are definitley top 3 favorites to win it all!