A brace from Danny Welbeck helped Arsenal to secure a comfortable victory over Ac Milan at the Emirates Stadium last night. The Gunners have reached the last eight of the europa league with a 3-1(agg:5-1) victory against the seven-time Champions League winner.
Arsenal already had the upper hand as they won the first leg by a 2-0 margin at the San Siro. Last night at the Emirates, Arsenal were trailing the scoreline first as AC Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu scored a stunning goal from 30 yards.
Arsenal recovered swiftly
Arsenal recovered swiftly as they were awarded a controversial penalty, Welbeck scored from the penalty to level the scoreline.
But the penalty was questionable as Welbeck went down easily after a little contact from Milan's Ricardo Rodrigez.
After that, Granit Xhaka scored a goal to provide the Gunners lead by beating Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Welbeck scored another goal to seal the victory his team. His header from close range made sure to give the Gunners a comfortable victory.
What is the importance of the match?
This victory is quite important for Arsenal. For the first time since 2010, they have qualified for the quarter-finals in a European tournament. However, AC Milan fans and players were quite furious about the debated penalty decision which allowed the Gunners to get back in the game after being 0-1 down.
The former Manchester United striker fell on the ground after a small contact with Ricardo Rodrigez. But the officials of the match did not have a single doubt in the mind that it was a foul and the penalty was given to Arsenal. It was a remarkable day for Welbeck as he was also selected for the national team for the friendlies against Italy and Netherlands.
On the other side, the Gunners are 12 apart from the fourth place of Premier League so winning the Europa League is indispensable to get a ticket for the Champions League next season. To lift the Europa League this season Welbeck's two goals are definitely a confidence booster because last night he scored his first goal in a European competition since 2014.
The newly signed Arsenal forward Pierra-Emrick Aubameyang is unavailable for the Europa League, so Welbeck's good form is essential if the Gunners want to lift the Europa League this season. On the other side, seven-time Champions League winners AC Milan have still a long way to go to get back their glory days.
In Series A they are a huge 27 points behind the table topper Juventus. They spent a whopping £201.5 million last summer to lift their fallen status but the results suggest that they still need to go a long way
