Sporting Lisbon put up a spirited effort to hold Arsenal to a 2-2 draw in this UEFA Europa League (UEL) Round of 16 first-leg encounter at the Estádio José Alvalade, with the visitors still unbeaten in five H2Hs against the Portuguese giants, thanks to Hidemasa Morita’s unfortunate own goal in the second half.
The Lisbon natives carefully assessed the visitors’ moves in the opening minutes, but eventually gave way to the opener midway through the half, after William Saliba out-jumped the home defence following a corner in the six-yard box to bury the ball into the left corner.
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Having scored nine of their 13 most recent goals in the second half.
Arsenal were expected to continue in that same vein, but some intricate Sporting teamplay in the opposition box left Paulinho with an easy tap-in to give his side the lead.
That said, there were penalty appeals from Arsenal on the cusp of 90 minutes after Fabio Vieira went down inside the box under pressure from a green and white shirt, but Tobias Stieler waved play on.
Being the only English side to have beaten Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese capital since 2018, Arsenal will rue not having taken their earlier chances, despite extending a proud unbeaten record against Portuguese opposition in the UEL to seven games.
And having progressed from each of their previous six ties against English sides in the UEFA Cup or UEL knockout stages, Rúben Amorim’s outfit will hope to carry this evening’s momentum into the return leg next week.
 Round of 16 first-leg encounter at the Estádio José Alvalade, with the visitors still unbeaten in five H2Hs against the Portuguese giants, thanks to Hidemasa Morita’s unfortunate own goal in the second half.){kind=link}