Europa League: Why Arsenal failed to defeat Sporting – Arteta
Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has reacted to their 2-2 draw with Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League last-16 first leg on Thursday.
The Gunners took the lead in Portugal thanks to William Saliba’s header in the first half.
But the hosts equalized through Goncalo Inacio and then went ahead after Paulinho’s finish.
Granit Xhaka’s attempted pass deflected off Hidemasa Morita into his own net to level the game again.
“When you concede two poor goals like we did away from home in Europe, it’s very difficult to get a positive result.
“The game had different phases because we gave too many simple balls away in our own half and gave them the capacity to (exploit) transition moments which they are good at,” Arteta said afterwards.