Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon were locked in an entertaining 2‑2 draw in their Europa League last‑16 first‑leg clash in Lisbon on Thursday. Hidemasa Morita’s own goal sent the Premier League leaders back to London with honours even, after Gonçalo Inácio and Paulinho’s goals helped Sporting recover from William Saliba’s opener. It was Saliba, heading home from Fabio Vieira’s corner, who gave Arsenal the lead after 22 minutes at the Estádio José Alvalade. Former Liverpool defender Sebastián Coates was booked in the aftermath of the goal and will miss the second leg. Sporting equalised shortly after in a near‑identical fashion, with Inácio heading home Marcus Edwards’ corner.
Edwards then forced a fine save from Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner as the hosts stepped up a gear. Sporting goalkeeper Antonio Adán denied Gabriel Martinelli early in the second half, and his team capitalised to take the lead. Edwards delivered a clever reverse pass that split open Arsenal’s defence; after Pedro Gonçalves’ shot was deflected, Paulinho reacted quickest to finish. Martinelli nearly equalised with a brilliant run from halfway, rounding Adán before being thwarted by a last‑gasp slide tackle from Jeremiah St Juste. Arsenal were level just after the hour mark when Granit Xhaka’s pass to Martinelli was deflected by Morita into his own net, leaving the tie finely balanced for the return leg.
Elsewhere, José Mourinho’s Roma earned a comfortable 2‑0 home win against Real Sociedad to put one foot into the quarter‑finals. Stephan El Shaarawy opened the scoring with a close‑range finish after a fine run and a cross from Tammy Abraham. Kubo struck the post as the Basques pushed for an equaliser, and Roma sealed the victory when Albanian defender Marash Kumbulla powered home a header from Paulo Dybala’s swinging corner, giving them a strong advantage for the second leg in San Sebastián.
In the Bundesliga, surprise package Union Berlin snatched a 3‑3 draw against Belgian side Royale Union SG, while Bayer Leverkusen beat Ferencváros 2‑0 at home. In the UEFA Conference League, Michael Antonio scored two first‑half goals to earn West Ham a 2‑0 win at EK Larnaca, and Villarreal shared a 1‑1 draw with Anderlecht, with Manu Trigueros putting the Spanish visitors ahead before Anders Dreyer levelled early in the second half.
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