Arsenal of England inger, Bukayo Saka provided yet another assist in action for The Gunners, and his accurate cross on Thursday night helped the Lndon-based side cruise ahead in the UEFA Europa League, megasportsarena.com reports.
However, while Saka’s tell-tale cross proved pivotal, it was Gunners’ capain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that rescued their Europa League campaign from the jaws of defeat as his late winner secured a dramatic 3-2 victory over Benfica of Portugal in Greece.
With their hopes of a top-four finish floundering and their chances of domestic cup silverware over, it was make or break for Arsenal at Olympiakos’ Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium, the stand-in venue for their Europa League round-of-32 second leg in light of the UK’s strict coronavirus travel rules.
However, despite being almost 2000 miles away from the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners were at home, quickly outnumbering Benfica in midfield and establishing control of the contest.
In a game of season-defining importance, Arsenal nerves were settled on 21 minutes when Aubameyang latched onto Saka’s perfectly-weighted reverse pass and floated the opener into the Benfica net to give the Gunners, after a VAR review, the lead in the tie for the first time.
Arsenal were staring down the barrel of elimination at the round-of-32 stage for the second successive season after Diogo Goncalves’ stunning first-half free-kick and Rafa Silva’s second – after a costly Dani Ceballos error – gifted Benfica the advantage after Aubameyang’s opener.
The collapse left Arsenal with half an hour to salvage their season, and they rose to the challenge in thrilling fashion, as Kieran Tierney’s venomous strike sparked the comeback.
The night of heroics was sealed with three minutes remaining when Aubameyang peeled away to the back post to head in Saka’s pinpoint cross, and Arsenal into the last 16 of the Europa League after a 4-3 aggregate win.
Th clincher came with only three minutes remaining, and The Gunners completed their remarkable comeback, with Saka once again the creator, curling a sumptuous ball to the back post which Aubameyang stooped to head in as Arsenal booked their place in Friday’s last-16 draw in the most dramatic of circumstances.
