Arsenal beats Sporting Lisbon on Havertz’s late goal in quarterfinals

Arsenal’s Kai Havertz celebrates after scoring his sides goal [AP Photo]

Sporting 0, Arsenal 1

A second straight Champions League semifinal is in sight for Arsenal.

Kai Havertz scored in stoppage time yesterday [Macau time] to seal a 1-0 win over Sporting Lisbon at Estadio Jose Alvalade to put Mikel Arteta’s team in control of the quarterfinal tie.

The substitute fired past goalkeeper Rui Silva from close range to give Arsenal the advantage ahead of next week’s second leg at the Emirates.

In another quarterfinal, Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu.

Havertz settled a tight game in Portugal by combining with fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli in the first minute of added time. With one touch the German controlled Martinelli’s defense-splitting pass in the box and then converted with a side-footed finish.

“To score a late goal is always nice,” Havertz told Amazon Prime. “We will take that result. There is still a lot of work to do next week.”

Victory saw Arsenal bounce back from successive defeats which cut its quadruple trophy hunt in half in recent weeks. Losses in the League Cup final and FA Cup quarterfinals had shaken the Premier League leader going into Tuesday’s match.

And it had to withstand an early charge from Sporting in front of a raucous crowd, with player-of-the-match David Raya producing an outstanding save to tip Maximiliano Araujo’s sixth-minute shot onto the bar.

“It could have changed the tie,” Arteta said.

Arsenal also hit the bar in the first half direct from Noni Madueke’s corner, but both teams struggled to create openings.

Martin Zubimendi thought he’d found the breakthrough in the second half with a curling effort from range only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.

Late on, Raya produced a string of saves. First he pushed away a goal-bound header from Geny Catamo and then pulled off a double stop to deny Catamo again and Luis Suarez.

“For me, the last two seasons, he’s the best keeper in the world. He has saved us so many times,” Havertz said.

But it was Havertz who delivered the goal that pushed Arsenal a step closer to another semifinal, having lost to eventual champion Paris Saint-Germain at that stage last year.

The forward scored the winner for Chelsea in the Champions League final in 2021 and this was another decisive moment for him in this competition.

“He loves the big occasion and the big games,” Arteta said. “And that’s what we need — the big players to turn up when we need them.”

Defeat was Sporting’s first at home since August. The Portuguese team has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

“A small lapse in concentration cost us dearly, and it’s frustrating because it happened in the 90th minute, but we have to lift our heads and move on,” coach Rui Borges told Sport TV.

The scenes of celebration for Arsenal’s players were in stark contrast to the dejection that followed the League Cup final loss to Manchester City and the shock of being beaten by second-division Southampton in the FA Cup on Saturday. JAMES ROBSON, Sports Writer, MDT/AP