Arsenal has provided themselves with an excellent starting position in the first leg of the eighth final of the Europa League against Olympiacos. The Gunners took the lead through Martin Ödegaard in the first half, but saw that lead disappear after the break due to a big mistake by goalkeeper Bernd Leno. In the end, the team of manager Mikel Arteta achieved a 1-3 victory in Greece in the last ten minutes thanks to goals from Gabriel and Mohamed Elneny.
Olympiacos qualified for the eighth final at the expense of PSV, while Arsenal got rid of Benfica in the sixteenth final. The Gunners got a life-sized chance at the lead in Greece after three minutes of play, when Kieran Tierney served Ödegaard. The Norwegian midfielder, however, shot over in a promising position. Despite the fact that Arsenal had the initiative in the initial phase, Olympiacos also had a great opportunity early in the game. After an error by Ödegaard, Bruma was offered a passage, but the PSV mercenary’s shot went straight to goalkeeper Leno.
After Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed an opportunity, Arsenal took the lead with 34 minutes left. After sloppily defending Olympiacos, Ödegaard hit the ball on the edge of the penalty area and goalkeeper José Sá had no answer to the devastating shot that followed: 0-1. Arsenal was lucky that the score was not leveled before half time. David Luiz’s fumbling offered Georgios Masouras a great opportunity, but the wing attacker shot wildly over.
In minute 58 such fumbling still led to a goal against Arsenal. Dani Ceballos lost the ball after a bad pass from goalkeeper Leno, after which Youssef El-Arabi picked up the ball and hit it from the edge of the penalty area. Not long after that, El-Arabi also had his second of the evening on his shoe, but after a nice attack he placed the ball next to the post. In the end, Arsenal still managed to take the game in the last minutes.
After a short corner kick, Willian delivered the ball in front of the goal, where Gabriel Magalhães headed the ball into the far corner. Despite fierce protests at Olympiacos over an alleged violation of the Arsenal defender, the VAR decided not to intervene. In the end, the substitute Elneny ensured that Arsenal can face the return at the Emirates Stadium with an extremely comfortable starting position. The Egyptian midfielder hit the bottom right corner from twenty meters, where Sá could only touch the ball.