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Arsenal rolled back the years during Thursday’s comeback win against Benfica in the Europa League. The Gunners came back from behind to win 3-2 to advance to the next stage of the competition.
It’s been a long time since Arsenal fans witnessed such a spirited performance from their team, but this was as vivacious as it gets. A brace from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and another from Kieran Tierney sealed Arsenal’s qualification to the last 16 of the Europa League.
The Gunners, however, had to fight for the result after falling behind to their Portuguese opponents with less than half an hour to go. At one point, it looked like Mikel Arteta’s side was down and out when Benfica were leading, thanks to goals from Diogo Goncalves and Rafa Silva.
Arsenal, though, showed tremendous spirit to overturn the result, with skipper Aubameyang grabbing the all-important winner with just three minutes left.
Arsenal stars to the rescue
For many weeks, this Arsenal team has been characterised by underwhelming performances. Despite the wealth of talent in the team, too many players have failed to find their form this season.
However, everyone was on song on Thursday. Apart from Dani Ceballos’ mistake which led to Benfica’s second goal, this was an efficient performance from the Gunners.
The icing on the cake was that Arsenal’s stars came to the rescue after a tough few weeks. Aubemeyang was on fire throughout the game and ended up with two crucial goals, which swung the game in favour of the North London outfit.
Bukayo Saka was an equally lively presence for 90 minutes and provided two important assists. Even Willian had an impactful cameo and chalked up his first assist since the opening day of the season.
Arsenal now has the chance to go all the way in the Europa League. However, they will need to replicate performances like this in the later stages of the competition.
Comeback win shows Arsenal’s fighting spirit under Arteta
Results haven’t been too good under Arteta for large parts of the season, but the overall attitude and team spirit has tremendously improved since the Spaniard was appointed head coach.
Against Benfica, Arsenal needed more than just talent to win the game. They needed character, attitude and fight, which they surprisingly had in abundance. At 2-1, the Gunners continued to press and launched attack after attack in search of an equaliser.
This should come as great news to every Arsenal fan, especially as the club has been known to give up quickly when the going gets tough in recent years.
“Well, it certainly keeps the season going in a much better way because this competition is going to help in the Premier League a lot,” Arteta said after the game, as quoted by Arsenal.com.
“It joins everyone together to have something important to play for and it would have been really harsh, with what has happened in the two legs, to be out of the competition. I’m extremely happy with the result," Arteta added.
Such a spirited performance in the Europa League could go a long way in transforming Arsenal’s season. The Gunners should now look to replicate this form in the Premier League.
