Kai Havertz scored in stoppage time to give Arsenal a 1-0 win in the first leg of its Champions League quarterfinal against Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday.
The substitute fired past goalkeeper Rui Silva from close range at Estadio Jose Alvalade to give Mikel Arteta’s team the advantage ahead of next week’s second leg at the Emirates.
In Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, Bayern Munich beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu.
Havertz settled a tight game of few chances in Lisbon by combining with fellow substitute Gabriel Martinelli. The German controlled the ball in the box and then side-footed into the net to hand Sporting its first loss at home since August.
“To score a late goal is always nice,” Havertz told Amazon Prime. “We will take that result. There is still a lot of work to do next week.”
Victory saw Arsenal bounce back from successive defeats which cut its quadruple trophy hunt in half in recent weeks. Losses in the League Cup final and FA Cup quarterfinals had shaken the Premier League leader going into Tuesday’s match.
And it had withstood an early charge in front of a raucous Lisbon crowd that included David Raya producing an outstanding save to tip Maximiliano Araujo’s sixth-minute shot onto the bar. Arsenal also hit the bar in the first half direct from Noni Madueke’s corner, but both teams struggled to create openings.
Martin Zubimendi thought he’d found the breakthrough in the second half with a curling effort from range, but it was ruled out for offside.
Late on, Raya pushed away a goal-bound header from Geny Catamo and then pulled off a double save to deny Catamo and Luis Suarez. “For me, the last two seasons, he’s the best keeper in the world. He has saved us so many times,” Havertz said.