Arsenal embarrass Manchester City and anger Amorim with perfect European performance
Arsenal were phenomenal in victory over Sporting, to the point you wonder why they don’t simply do this all the time. Ruben Amorim can’t have enjoyed that.
Basic maths dictates that there must have been better team performances across a half in the entire history of association football but certainly none came to mind at the break in Portugal, by which point Arsenal had confirmed fears they might well be very much back.
Ruben Amorim will have watched Manchester United’s upcoming opponents face his former side Sporting for business and the promise of pleasure after orchestrating the destruction of Manchester City last time out in the Champions League. The manager’s reaction might not have been too dissimilar to Vito Corleone looking upon his fallen creation and lamenting how they massacred his boy by an even starker scoreline.
Sporting had suffered just two defeats across 90 minutes in their last 52 games; their most recent defeat by more than a single goal was inflicted in January 2023, 97 games ago. The Arsenal side they faced, beat and broke in the Europa League that March was very good but this beast is at least a couple of evolutions further on that cycle.
When they play like they did in the first half, it is difficult not to wonder why Arsenal don’t simply do this all the time. It is obviously not nearly that straightforward but they certainly make it look it at full flow. The machine is a sight to behold when all the cogs are in place and everything clicks.
The first two goals were masterfully crafted team efforts tapped in from close range. In the opening ten minutes Arsenal flashed three almost identical balls across goal from either side, opening doors down the corridor of uncertainty each time like Mystery Inc. running from a villainous janitor in disguise. If you butcher the pronunciation of his surname just enough, Sporting left wing-back Maximiliano Araujo even sounds a bit like Scooby Doo reacting to having to defend against Bukayo Saka.
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Finally, Gabriel Martinelli converted from a Jurrien Timber centre to establish the lead.
The second goal was wonderful. A stunning ball over the top from Thomas Partey found Saka, whose presence of mind to poke the ball through the legs of the keeper on the run to Kai Havertz in the middle was absurd.
The third was the exclamation point: Gabriel’s trademark header from a corner, followed by his own take on Viktor Gyokeres’ staple celebration.
The Sporting striker never seemed likely to have the chance to air it himself. Gabriel and William Saliba handled Europe’s top scorer this year with ludicrous ease, barely giving the Swede a moment to breathe.
Even when Sporting improved markedly in the second half, Gyokeres struggled to have any sort of impact despite being an absolute handful throughout. His evening was summed up by a free-kick on the edge of the area sent high into the stands when momentum had started to tangibly shift.
This was not his night, nor that of anyone hosting. Sporting’s effort and attitude was admirable to the bitter end but Arsenal were sensational. A run of one win in eight European away games was blown away by five different scorers and even the opportunity to run a few mid-game defensive drills.
A different iteration of this Arsenal team might have collapsed when Goncalo Inacio pulled a goal back less than two minutes into the second half. The Sporting storm came with eight shots and more than two-thirds possession in the next half an hour but the visitors weathered it. Better still, Saka converted a penalty in between to restore that three-goal cushion.
Arsenal’s game-management was impeccable and really even that Sporting goal can be spun as a positive, underlining the importance of concentration and focus at this level. It was a test Arsenal passed ridiculously well, affording Mikel Arteta his five substitutions without guilt, and Leandro Trossard another goal from the bench.
It could not have been a sharper contrast to their last European outing. Liverpool have become an unexpected hurdle both domestically and on the continent but Arsenal have at least rediscovered their brilliance at the precise point Manchester City have hilariously misplaced theirs.