Sporting Club de Portugal 1–5 Arsenal 

Arsenal beat Sporting Club de Portugal by astonishing 5-1 margin to register the club’s equal biggest away victory in the Champions League on a memorable night in Lisbon.

Three first half goals by Gabi Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel put Arsenal in dreamland here in the Portuguese capital.

The resolute Gunners then quelled the home side’s attempts at staging a second half comeback through Goncalo Inacio’s volley two minutes after the interval, with Bukayo Saka showing presence to calmly slot home his 65th minute penalty, prior to Leandro Trossard sealing an enthralling clash at the raucous Estadio Jose Alvalade by making it 5-1 to the Gunners with eight minutes remaining.

Mikel Arteta’s rampant Gunners sent a message to the rest of Europe by underling their Champions League title credentials by clinically dispatching Sporting, who had started the day in second place in the revamped league format. 

Martinelli, the 23-year-old Brazil attacker restored to the starting line-up by Arteta after missing the Gunners 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, slotted home from close range following Jurrien Timber’s ball to make it 1-0 after only seven minutes.

Worse was to come for newly-appointed Sporting boss Joao Pereira and his side when Bukayo Saka set up Havertz who made no mistake when well-placed for 2-0 after only 22 minutes.

Rampant Arsenal could have made it three after Martin Odegaard’s delightfully lifted through-ball into the box saw Havertz’s effort saved by Sporting keeper Franco Israel on the half hour mark.

Such was the visitor’s dominance against the side that impressively sat in second spot before kick-off in the revamped Champions League table - albeit as a team that had been guided to such heady heights by the now departed Ruben Amorim – that disgruntled home supports lit flares that burned brightly, prior to fireworks being let off inside the ground.

Fireworks have been let off here in Lisbon presumably by disgruntled Sporting CP fans as Arsenal fans sing: “We want more fireworks…” pic.twitter.com/Fnpi2h94FP

— Layth (@laythy29) November 26, 2024

Stung, Sporting fired back, with the lively 17-year-old Geovany Quenda’s powerful shot being tipped over by an alert Raya moments before the interval.

Such moments were rare for the home side in the opening 45 minutes, as Gabriel turned in Rice’s corner right on the stroke of half time to make it 3-0 at the break in front of a stunned stadium.

While Gabriel and his teammates celebrated joyously, perhaps the Gunners centre-back would have been wise not to copy Viktor Gyokeres trademark goal celebration – which saw the home side come out fired up for the second half.

Their fury was channelled effectively two minutes after the restart, when Goncalo Inacio volleyed past Raya from Francisco Trincao’s ball to pull a goal back and make the score 3-1 to Arsenal.

Raya was then booked by Polish referee Szymon Marciniak for timewasting with Arsenal trying to slow Sporting’s momentum.

However, with the game at such a critical juncture, Arteta and his team knew that while a second for Sporting would put them under fierce pressure, equally, another goal for the north Londoners would seal the match.

Which is exactly what happened.

Odegaard stepped into the box only to be felled by Ousmane Diomande – who somehow escaped a second yellow card after his first booking on four minutes – as Saka stepped up to take the vital spot-kick.

The 23-year-old England international showed nerves of steel to fire past Israel in the Sporting goal to kill the tie at 4-1, as he and his teammates celebrated in front of the tremendous 3,000 travelling support high up in the gods.

As the joyous Gooners continued to celebrate knowing the game was won, Trossard made it 5-1 with eight minutes remaining to clinch a superb victory.

One which equalled the 5-1 rout of Inter Milan in the San Siro back in 2003, while posting the biggest European away triumph of Arteta’s managerial career. 

Sporting Clube de Portugal fans sing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” before the Champions League clash vs Arsenal here at the Estadio Jose Alvalade pic.twitter.com/3mrRiZWiee

— Layth (@laythy29) November 26, 2024