Not every game plan works the first time, but the great advantage of being the manager of one of Europe’s super-club elite is that Mikel Arteta can summon from the bench a match-winner of proven quality.
Step forward Kai Havertz, the man who decided the 2021 Champions League final, and was this time the 90th-minute goalscorer in a quarter-final first leg grinding to a hitherto unremarkable finale. With two deft touches, Havertz changed this game, tilted the tie towards Arsenal and what might yet be a second consecutive Champions League semi-final place for the first time in their history.
Good substitutes can change games – and there is no club currently better at doing so than Arsenal. No team in Europe have benefited from more goal involvements from substitutes this season – 24 goals and 14 assists in all competitions including two more in Lisbon.
This was by no means a classic, and one suspects that the second leg at the Emirates next Wednesday will encompass significantly more excitement – and perhaps even some jeopardy. Nevertheless, a winner at the death against a club who have won 17 in a row in their home stadium is not to be dismissed lightly. It will go a long way, for Arteta, to smoothing away any misgivings about what preceded it.
The goal was created by Havertz’s fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli with a run off the left on his right foot and a ball chipped over the home side’s defence into the only space that existed in that moment. Havertz took it with the composure of a man who needs only one sight of goal – which was about as much as Arsenal got all night.
On his return to Sporting for the first time since his summer move, Viktor Gyokeres was afforded a warm reception before and after the game, but one wonders if he would have been as capable with that late chance as Havertz.
Arteta implied later that Havertz had been unhappy not to start but accepted the role given to him. He came on after 70 minutes for Martin Odegaard, who had been given extensive treatment during the game. Noni Madueke and Leandro Trossard had struggled to dominate their respective full-backs, and the 16-year-old Max Dowman and Martinelli would replace them.
With substitutes this good, there was always a chance that a decisive blow would be struck. Arteta’s response on this point suggested an old managerial anxiety: convincing those left out of the importance of their role. He called it “chemistry”. Others might suggest he was making a point to the players he chooses to put on the bench.
“[It is about] respecting your role [as a substitute] within the day and my decision,” Arteta said. “It’s not easy a lot of times to leave certain players on the bench. That [the response] is organic, it’s natural. They love each other so much that they do it for the team. And when you play with that attitude and that desire, these things can happen.”
“We’re going to need them in the crucial moments,” he added, “to win it for us.”
While he was in the mood, there was also a note of defiance about the reaction to those defeats in the two domestic cup competitions and how others might perceive his team. He said he had observed the reaction of players.
“And I cannot be prouder to work in a club with people that the only thing they could do is ask, ‘What else can I do to help?’ And when you have people like this, I don’t know if it’s going to take another week or two, but something really will happen at the end because we deserve it.”
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 7, 2026Superb Kai Havertz 😮💨
Brilliant play from Gabriel Martinelli and Havertz calmly slots home after a sublime first touch 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LF9EnQutnw
Back in goal for Arsenal having missed Carabao Cup final defeat and the FA Cup elimination by Southampton was David Raya – and the goalkeeper was outstanding once again. It was his save from the Mozambique international Geny Catamo that prefaced the winning goal. He had also touched a shot from the Uruguayan left-back Maximiliano Araújo onto the bar in the sixth minute. There was no part of the game when Raya did not rise to the occasion.
This has been a turbulent period in what might yet be one of Arsenal’s greatest seasons. Victory against Sporting will go some way to changing the mood ahead of yet another Premier League epic on Saturday, this time against Bournemouth.
For all the tension around Arsenal’s season, that did not make much of this game any easier to watch. Arsenal never truly cut their opposition open until the goal itself. With Declan Rice and Odegaard reunited in midfield, they settled for possession, especially after a fierce start from Sporting when Raya pushed Araújo’s shot onto the bar.
The centre-half Ousmane Diomande had found Araújo with a splendid ball with the outside of his right foot. Sporting became, per Opta, the first team to have four shots against Arsenal in the first 10 minutes of a game in any competition this season. Arsenal had just one tame shot on target all first half.
In the second half Martin Zubimendi had a goal disallowed when Gyokeres had wandered offside. Dowman was twice fouled by the uncompromising Araújo in their early exchanges. By and large, the teenager could not get himself in the positions in which he thrives.
“The demand from August is win and win and win and win,” Arteta said later. “And if you don’t win, it’s a disaster… and if you don’t win four trophies – ‘What are we doing?’”
This is pressure indeed, and there would have been more of it had it not been for Havertz’s intervention. This win, Arteta said, was “a big reminder of what we are as a team and the things that have brought us where we are”. It would be hard to argue on this evidence.
Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime Video
Link copied to clipboard
Very happy to win in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against a team that hasn’t lost at home for I don’t know how long.
When we got into the final third we lacked the final pass. We needed to be more crisp, more efficient to break them down. We tried in different ways, we scored a goal that was disallowed. We were close on two or three occasions but we couldn’t find that final pass and then that magic moment. The ‘finishers’ win it again.
It was beautiful and that’s the impact you need when you get to this stage of the season.
Kai loves the big occasion, the big games and that is what we need, the big players to turn up when when need them to win us the game.
David made two big saves, two big moments and that’s the Champions League, there is so much quality here. At the moment he is phenomenal, extraordinary since he joined us and we are very lucky to have him.
We had to reveal ourselves today. I talk about identity, things we are as a team and I definitely saw that tonight.
It’s half-time, we are a step closer and now we need to finish the tie in front of our own people. If we do that we are going to start to dream.
Kai Havertz talks to Amazon Prime
Link copied to clipboard
To score a late goal is always nice and we take that result. Still a lot of work to do next week but we take it.
He has so much quality, he made it so well, credit to Martinelli.
It was an open game but we controlled it quite well. Football is made up of moments like this.
A big turnaround for us because we lost the last two matches. We wanted that and we made it happen.We stick together as a group, we have seven weeks to go and we can win big titles. That’s what we’re going to go for.
Unbelievable, [Raya is] still underestimated in the world of football but for me he is the best keeper in the world. He saved us so many times this season and we are very glad to have him.
Full time: Sporting 0 Arsenal 1
Link copied to clipboard
The goal wasn’t the last kick of the match. Arsenal had to see out half a minute or so and did so when Bragnca’s blocked shot then spun away from Nel. Possibly an act of grand larceny in terms of the result but that’s what David Raya can do for you. A world-class keeper ensured they were still in it to nick a great win with a terrific move at the death.
GOAL!
Link copied to clipboard
Sporting 0 Arsenal 1 (Havertz) Brilliant from two subs. Martinelli dribbles in from the left, going back towards his own goal then bends a reverse pass with his right towards the penalty spot, exactly where Havertz was pointing. Havertz came off the shoulder of Diomande, trapped the pass with his first touch perfectly then fed a shot into the bottom left corner.
87 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Catamo, who has been electric in the last 10 minutes, flies down the right, gets into the box and hammers a daisycutter of a shot that Raya blocks and then does enough to stymie Suárez’s attempt with the follow up, throwing up both hands while on the floor to bat the stabbed shot away from danger.
I increasingly think there’s an argument to be made for David Raya being Arsenal’s player of the season. Of all the players in their squad, he and Rice are probably the two they absolutely cannot afford to lose in the remaining weeks of this campaign. The struggles of Kepa in the last two cup games are evidence of Raya’s importance.
85 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Martinelli has a crack from 25 yards and the ball bounces awkwardly, six inches in front of Rui Silva who blocks it with soft hands to stop it rebounding out too far then smothers it.
83 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Fine save with a firm left hand by Raya turns Catamo’s stooping header behind for a corner. Fresneda had played an inside-out pass to Suárez who rounded Calafiori and stood up a low, near-post cross.
Arsenal defend the corner solidly.
81 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Dowman is penalised for wrestling with Araujo. That could easily have gone the other way.
79 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Poor cross from Calafiori when sent behind Fresneda by Martinelli’s pass is picked off in the Sporting penalty area.
Nel → Pote.
77 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Catamo cuts in off the right and fizzes a shot through Calafiori’s legs that slams into the advertising hoardings. He thinks that was closer than it was.
Arsenal have successfully removed the sting from Sporting’s attack in this second half. They have control of the game now, which wasn’t necessarily the case towards the end of the first half. There’s still no real threat from Arteta’s attackers, though. Perhaps the arrival of Dowman and Martinelli will change that.
75 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Dowman is poised to come on with Martinelli in a moment. But not before Sporting take a goalkick resulting from Madueke’s left-foot inswinging cross from the right that eluded Gyokeres by a few inches. A bigger hooter and he may have made some contact.
Martinelli → Trossard
Dowman → Madueke.
72 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Gyokeres shields the ball after Catamo’s overhit cross wrecked Sporting’s blitz of a counter-attack and draws the free-kick that slows the game down.
70 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Rice catches the side of Pote’s thigh with his knee and administers a playground dead leg albeit accidentally.
Havertz → Odegaard.
68 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal celebrated that ‘goal’ very close to the most vociferous home fans and were pelted with bits and bobs with jagged edges for their sins. The atmosphere quickly returned to a happier one when VAR tipped a wink at the referee.
Might this be a night for man/boy of the moment Max Dowman? His dribbling ability would potentially help to open up the Sporting defence, or at least change some of the angles of Arsenal’s attack.
No goal!
Link copied to clipboard
Scratch that. Gyokeres was offside by a yard when laying the ball back to White who teed up Zubimendi to wrap his right instep around a 20-yard shot that bent round a defender and into the right side of the goal.
62 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Braganca → Simoes. One young holding midfielder for another. Odegaard was receiving treatment while that substitution was taking place but seems to be OK.
59 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
White and Calafiori are making underlapping runs now to join the attack but Arsenal are still playing relatively short. Rice and Odegaard are capable of playing longer passes and if they don’t do it here, they may have to at the Emirates.
57 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Trossard stands up a good cross from the left that deserved better but Gyokeres had made a different run and Madueke hadn’t come off his wing sufficiently. Sporting break from that with Araujo motoring up the left and finding Trincao who squeezes a shot as he fell past the right post with Raya at full stretch.
55 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Sporting defend the first corner by heading the cross over for a second. They head that one out and try to race after the ball, knocking it long and hoping to use their pace but Raya is well placed on the edge of the box to come out another 10 yards and head it away from their runners.
53 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal free-kick after Araujo’s foul on Madueke. He must be close to a yellow card on the totting up principle. Odegaard takes and tries to whip it under the crossbar. Rui Silva slaps it over for a corner.
51 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Sporting try to catch Arsenal out with another long pass from a centre-half over the midfield and centre-backs but this one skips away from Catamo even as he desperately lunged at it.
49 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Trincao and Catamo’s attempt to team up on the right and overload Calafiori is thwarted by Rice’s tracking run. Arsenal trigger a quick attack having won the ball back, Odegaard bending a good pass out to the left. Trossard takes a couple of touches to tack infield then shoots… tamely pas the left post from 20 yards.
47 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal defend the corner solidly with Gabriel winning the decisive header and then catch Catamo offside when Sporting try to play him in over the top.
46 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
No changes and Sporting go on the attack from the kick off, Pote sending Araujo down the left on an overlap and his cross is turned behind for a corner.
Half-time verdict
Link copied to clipboard
Just the nine touches for Arsenal striker Viktor Gyokeres in that first half, the fewest of any player on the pitch. Arsenal have had plenty of the ball but they are not creating much with it. Sporting grew in confidence as that half progressed.
Half-time: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal have had 52 per cent of possession but managed only one shot on target. They are doing OK but have lacked a creative spark so far. Sporting have been cannily set up, going direct with their marauding left-back and wingers, and are sticking to their plan not to let Arsenal draw them into an injudicious move when pressing, preferring to stand off, and consequently forcing Arsenal to try to pass through them. Arsenal look better when going over the top and, of course, from set pieces. Could do with Trossard getting into the game more and Madueke playing more early crosses.
45 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Mistake by Catamo stops a Sporting attack when he gives the ball away and Rice tries to make inroads up the left. With time running out Odegaard attempts to beat Silva from 30+ yards but lacked the dose of brilliance or luck he required from that range.
44 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Odegaard, about 20 yards out to the right of the D, lets the ball run across him then fires a low shot with his laces that Silva dives to his left to save. Struck it well but too close to the keeper. Still, a shot on target.
42 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Calafiori is having more joy shutting down Catamo on the left of Arsenal’s defence than White is having with Araujo and Pote. Also fair to say that Trossard is a more diligent defender on that side than Madueke.
40 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Diomande lets fly from 30 yards with his left but the closer it gets to goal on a vertical plane, the more it moves away on the horizontal. Safe to say after that gorgeous pass with his right to send Araujo clear in the early minutes, his left foot is definitely the swinger.
38 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Zubimendi’s short back-pass puts Raya under pressure from Suárez but the keeper is alert and gets there first to boot it into touch and stop the immediate danger.
36 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Diomande and Inacio look like a good pairing at centre-back and they are well screened by Simoes and Morita too. Arsenal have had no joy through the front door so far. They need to go down the side but only the right wing is looking promising.
33 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Amazon Prime clarifies that Suarez was not booked. It was a rogue graphic from the host broadcaster. The whistles would have been even louder had the ref raised his card rather than the ‘fact’ of it it just appearing on the screen.
31 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal free-kick on the right after Morita who won the ball in a slide tackle followed through to fell Trossard with an ankle-swipe. Rice takes it and overhits it but Arsenal will have a throw-in. Calafiori lobs it into the box but is penalised for a foul throw. His foot must have been over the line.
The ref books Suárez for a reason as yet unknown and that will rule him out of the leg at the Emirates. Weird.
29 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
White gets across his marker at the near post to glance a header at the keeper but only because he shoved the defender. The referee awards Sporting a free-kick to sarcastic jeers from the crowd who think he’s favouring Arsenal. Haven’t seen much evidence of that.
28 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Araujo is a whippet up the left and floods into the huge gap between Madueke and White again but makes a hash of his pass and Arsenal counter. Araujo has to sprint at full pelt but does so to block Madueke’s cross by the byline at the price of a corner.
25 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Much to the frustration of Gyokeres and even more of Alan Shearer, secretary of state for centre-forwards, Madueke takes a touch too many and delays the cross into the box so long that Araujo, the full-back he had beaten, managed to get back in and stop the centre.
23 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
White backpedals when confronted by Araujo and blocks the attempt to nutmeg him then shields the ball and uses the trick learnt from Luke Ayling in his Leeds days and flops to the floor when touched in the back to earn a free kick.
20 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Foul by Araujo gives Arsenal a second free kick out on the right, about 35 yards from goal. Rice takes it short and Arsenal shift it over to Trossard on the left. The sallow-faced winger rolls it back to Odegaard whose cross is headed clear by Diomande. Wrong trajectory for once.
18 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal go a probing.
Here’s that Raya save:
Are you a fan of set-piece routines? If not, stop reading now. If you are, then you might enjoy this: when Gabriel scored from a corner here last season, he did so after running to attack the ball from the edge of the penalty area. For Arsenal’s first corner of the game tonight, though, he positioned himself underneath the crossbar. A complete change of strategy. Could it be a consequence of last season’s success? Always do what your opponent least expects...
16 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Madueke bends the inswinging corner on to the bar. With a resounding thump the ball rebounds out over a crowded six-yard box to Odegaard who runs on to it and strikes it with his left about 15 yards from goal, dragging it wide of the right post. Hit it sweetly but needed something special to find a way through a thicket of bodies.
14 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal free-kick on the right after a foul on Madueke. Odegaard whips it in viciously flat and Gyokeres glances it goalwards but on to the diligent Diomande and out for a corner.
12 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Better by Arsenal after good work from Madueke on the right, they make their first incursion into the Sporting penalty area and Gyokeres manages to hold the ball up, 10 yards out, waiting for the midfield runner but Araujo steps across to filch it away before he can lay it off.
That was not the first time in recent weeks that David Raya has saved Arsenal after some sloppy defending by the players in front of him.
In the first half of this season, Arsenal hardly conceded a chance. In recent months, they have been so much more vulnerable.
10 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Raya to the rescue once more when Fresneda pounces on a sloppy pass and sends Catamo up the right wing. But his cross-shot creeps too close to the keeper who dives to his right to smother.
9 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Araujo has another excellent effort from 20 yards, shaving the top of the crossbar. Their pace and patience of timing their breaks is making Arsenal and their fans nervous.
7 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Araujo hammers a left-foot shot from the left edge of the D and Raya manages to tip it on to the bar. Even better than the shot and the save, though, was Diomande’s 30-yard pass with the outside of his right foot that completely isolated White and let the left-back blindside him.
5 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
As they did from the kick off, Arsenal are stroking the ball around deep trying to trigger the Sporting press but they are refusing to jump in just yet. And instead when the forward pass eventually comes it is picked off by Simoes and Rive has to make a recovery tackle./
Very long and loud rendition of ‘My Way’ by the home fans that straddles kick-off. Not quite as tuneful as the version by Frank Sinatra, or as he is possibly known in Portugal – ‘Frank Sintra’.
3 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
Sporting have a free-kick earned by Suárez, whose strength, back to goal, forced Saliba into pulling him down with one arm around his chest. Sporting zip the ball around but miss the opportunity of playing the early ball up to Pote who was yelling for it.
A quick note on Sporting’s young right back, Ivan Fresneda. Arsenal tried to sign him in the January window of 2023. They should be well aware of his strengths and weaknesses.
1 min: Sporting 0 Arsenal 0
Link copied to clipboard
After some healthy boos during the Champions League anthem, Arsenal kick off a couple of minutes late because of the Sporting anthem which is sung to the tune of My Way. As ever Arsenal knock the ball backwards but don’t launch it this time but pass it around the back four as the anthem ends after a final acapella chorus. Araujo, the left-back, snaps on a loose forward pass but runs traight into White and Arsenal regain possession.
The players are in the tunnel
Link copied to clipboard
Cue Handel:
Ce sont les meilleures équipes
Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften
The main event
Die Meister
Die Besten
Les grandes équipes
The champions
Once upon a time in Lisbon
Link copied to clipboard
Greetings from the Estádio José Alvalade, one of the finest ring-road adjacent modern European stadiums. I can say that I was here when it all began on Aug 6, 2003, reporting for Telegraph Sport when Manchester United arrived at the end of a long pre-season tour of the United States to be the opposition for the opening. A teenage Cristiano Ronaldo tore the right side of a tired United team apart and the rest is history. The stadium is looking a little worn almost 23 years on. But a good atmosphere is finally brewing after a sedate evening thus far.
Pedro Goncalves starts on the left wing
Link copied to clipboard
Another Sporting player, like Trincao, who spent time at Molineux, he is universally known as Pote because as a kid he was short and a bit of a tubster, hence the nickname ‘the pot’,
Kit watch
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal are in their navy away shirts and socks but, because of Sporting’s Roderick Spode-style black shorts, have had to improvise and switch the matching dark blue shorts for silver ones.
Ending the drought
Link copied to clipboard
It’s about time Leandro Trossard contributed some goals for Arsenal. After a decent start to the season, he has failed to score in each of his last 18 appearances. In his previous 18 games, he scored six goals. He starts on the left wing tonight, ahead of Gabriel Martinelli.
Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime Sport
Link copied to clipboard
It’s an opportunity. Gratitude for being here again. It’s always difficult to reach this stage. I’m very excited.
The clarity what we have to do in each phase of play I’m sure we’re going to see that in the team today.
Our captain [is back], we know the fluidity and creativity he gives to our team.
[Max Dowman] was very close but he just played 90 minutes three days ago and we have to protect him so he is ready when we need him.
Playing for pens
Link copied to clipboard
Arsenal began Monday’s training session with an exercise in which four players were connected by pens as they dribbled a ball downfield. Each player used their index finger to hold one side of the pen, while their team-mate did the same with the other side.
Asked about the approach, Arteta said: “A training session has to have different elements and it has to be related to the messages that we sent, and the compromises and commitments that we’ve made between us. I try to have all those messages and commitments as much as possible.”
Your teams in black and white
Link copied to clipboard
Sporting Rui Silva; Fresneda, Diomande, Inacio, Araujo; Morita, Simoes; Catamo, Trincao, Pedro Goncalves; Suárez.
Substitutes Virginia, Callai, Debast, Vagiannidis, Kochorashvili, Faye, Braganca, Flavio Goncalves, Quaresma, Nel, Ricardo Mangas.
Arsenal Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard.
Substitutes Arrizabalaga, Ranson, Mosquera, Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli, Norgaard, Havertz, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Harriman-Annous, Salmon.
Referee Daniel Siebert (Germany)
Sporting team news
Link copied to clipboard
Fresneda has recovered from illness to start at right-back
A brief word from Ben White
Link copied to clipboard
It’s been really disappointing and it’s amazing we have a game so soon to get that feeling out of our bellies.
You have to win now. Preparing for each game is so important.
A good result is massively important. We’re coming here to win.
Arsenal team news
Link copied to clipboard
Odegaard starts, Gabriel fit and Rice returns.
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 7, 2026🔵 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 🔴
🧤 Raya starts in goal
🧱 Gabriel makes 250th appearance
⚡️ Trossard out wideLet's do this, Gunners 👊
Key absentees for Sporting Lisbon
Link copied to clipboard
Danish captain Morten Hjulmand, is suspended while striker Fotis Ioannidis and wingers Geovany Quenda and Luis Guilherme are injured while the defender Iván Fresneda has been ill.
Sporting’s formidable home form
Link copied to clipboard
Good evening from a surprisingly and unpleasantly rainy Lisbon, where Arsenal are looking for a repeat of last season’s successful trip to Sporting CP’s Estadio Jose Alvalade. Mikel Arteta’s side won 5-1 here in November 2024, although I can’t see them repeating that scoreline tonight. Sporting have won their last 16 home matches in all competitions.
It’s a special night for Viktor Gyokeres, who scored 97 goals in 102 games for Sporting before forcing a move to Arsenal last summer. The man who replaced Gyokeres is Colombian striker Luis Suárez, and he represents the biggest threat to Arsenal’s defence tonight.
In 42 matches for Sporting this season, Suárez has scored 33 goals. Those are Gyokeres-esque figures… which either speaks volumes about Suárez’s ability or suggests that plundering goals in the Portuguese league isn’t quite as difficult as one might think. You decide!
Arsenal need Martin Odegaard to reignite their season
Link copied to clipboard
Opportunity knocks for Martin Odegaard, who in the next two months could become the first Arsenal captain since Patrick Vieira to lift the Premier League title, or the first Arsenal captain in history to win the Champions League. Success on either front would secure legendary status in north London for the Norwegian.
If those are the targets for May, then Odegaard also has an important task for April: reminding the world of his quality and reinstalling himself as a central player in Mikel Arteta’s team. After the most frustrating, injury-ravaged campaign of Odegaard’s Arsenal career, he is the player with perhaps the biggest point to prove in these decisive weeks of the season.
At the age of 27, Odegaard is entering a defining phase of his career. These are his prime years and he craves the major honours that will elevate him, and indeed his club, to a higher level. For Odegaard as an individual and Arsenal as a collective, the time has come to fulfil the potential that has been displayed so vividly over the past five years.
Betting on tonight’s game?
Link copied to clipboard
Advertisement | GambleAware | 18+ Betting on the football tonight? Take a look at these tips and offers chosen by Telegraph Media Group
Preview: Returning hero
Link copied to clipboard
Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the Champions League quarter-final, first leg match between Sporting and Arsenal at Lisbon’s Estadio Jose Alvalade. If the word ‘cup’ is likely to turn Arsenal fans into Chief Inspector Charles LaRousse Dreyfus from the Pink Panther films given their travails at Wembley and St Mary’s, comfort can come from this competition being designated a league even if that makes it a sheep in wolf’s clothing during the knockout phase. Their form is impeccable in Europe, winning all eight league phase fixtures and they defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 on aggregate in the round of 16. Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber are still sidelined, the latter an even bigger blow given how inadequately Ben White coped with Jérémy Doku and Leo Scienza, but they do have Gabriel, Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard back from recent knocks.
These two have met five times in Europe with Arsenal hammering them 5-1 in Lisbon in November 2024 during Joao Pereira’s 44 days in charge in succession to Ruben Amorim. Rui Borges came in the following month and has won 69 per cent of his matches, successfully defending the Primeira Liga title and winning the Taça de Portugal to complete their first double since 2002. This season they are second in the table, five points behind Porto but with a game in hand and have lost only once in the league all season, a home defeat by Porto back in the autumn.
Sporting qualified in seventh place for an automatic spot in the R16 after five wins, including a 2-1 victory over champions PSG. a draw with Juventus and away defeats by Napoli and Bayern Munich. Like Arsenal they beat Athletic in San Mames, dispatched Brugge by three goals to nil and beat Kairat at home. In their first knockout tie, like many others this season they froze against Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle, losing 3-0 but hammered the Norwegians 5-0 in the return leg, playing with their usual slick pace out wide and seeing their exhausted opponents off in extra-time.
No one could replace Viktor Gyokeres’ impact in his two seasons in Lisbon when he scored 97 goals in 102 appearances for the Lions but Colombia’s Luis Suárez has bagged 33 goals in 42 appearances this season including both in the victory over PSG. Gyokeres, meanwhile, has shown what he can do with decent service, especially for Sweden, and will be given a friendly if wary reception tonight according to Borges. “He is a great player, and I am sure he will be welcomed by everyone because he marked the history of Sporting, and he deserves this acknowledgement… the admiration we have for him is great,” he said.