Facts: On to the quarter-finals
The eight teams in the Europa League quarter-finals, which will be drawn on Friday:
Sevilla, Feyenoord, Juventus, Manchester United, Bayer Leverkusen, Roma, Union St Gilloise, Sporting Lisbon.
Gabriel Martinelli was Arsenal’s scapegoat as Sporting Lisbon grabbed a quarter-final place in the penalty shootout at the Emirates Stadium. He burned Arsenal’s fourth penalty, while the Portuguese scored their five and emerged victorious from the doubleheader.
Arsenal scored the first goal in normal time when Granit Xhaka grabbed the rebound after Gabriel Martinelli’s finish in the 19th minute. The equalizer came in the 62nd minute and was spectacular. Sporting Lisbon won the ball in midfield and Pedro Gonçalves was just on the edge of the center circle when he attempted a shot. The ball flew in an arc over Aaron Ramsdale, who stood a little too far out, and 1–1 (and 3–3 overall in the double meeting) was a fact.
There were no more goals, which led to the penalty shootout.
Earlier in the evening, Manchester United had no problem advancing to the quarter-finals. 1–0 against Real Betis in Seville (goal by Marcus Rashford) made it 5–1 on aggregate in the doubleheader.
Juventus and Roma are also through, which means that a total of six Italian teams remain in European play ahead of the quarter-finals of the three cups.
Also standing out is the promotion of Belgian comet team Union St Gilloise, who beat Union Berlin 3–0 at home (6–3 on aggregate).