Road to the Europa League Final: Arsenal

Arsenal reached their first European final since 2006 as they came from behind to beat Valencia in the semi-finals, but how did Arsenal reach the Europa League final?

After failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second season in a row, Arsene Wenger departed the Emirates after almost 22 years in charge and former Sevilla and PSG man Unai Emery came in to replace him.

The Spaniard has formed a name for himself winning the Europa League three times in a row when he was at Sevilla. Therefore, at the very least Arsenal fans were optimistic of their overall chances of being crowned Europa League champions.

Without needing to play in the qualifying stages, the Gunners found themselves in a group with last season’s third-placed Portuguese side Sporting CP; FC Vorskla Poltava from Ukraine and Azerbaijani side Qarabag FK, with the latter being a resident of the final’s host country.

To start off with Arsenal hosted Vorskla, and it was an almost perfect performance until the 76th minute, as the Gunners were 4-0 up in front of their home fans. However, they were let down by bad defending and conceded two goals before the game ended.

Even though they conceded two goals to the Ukrainian side it didn’t affect their second Europa League tie as they travelled to Azerbaijan, to play in harsh snowy conditions and won 3-0. This was the match were the younger Arsenal players were the stars of the show, Emile Smith Rowe started and scored his first ever goal, the same went with Matteo Guendouzi.

Their toughest test in the group stages faced them after beating two teams that they were expected to beat, they had to go to Lisbon and beat a difficult opponent in Marcel Keozer’s Sporting. It took a late goal from fringe player Danny Welbeck to win them the tie, which sealed an eleventh consecutive victory.

The return tie was disappointing for both clubs and it ended 0-0 with Arsenal gaining qualification to the round of 32. After qualifying, they faced Vorskla in Ukraine and then won that tie 3-0 with Smith Rowe again playing his part in Arsenal’s adventure.

Alexandre Lacazette was the only goalscorer in their final group stage game as they welcomed Qarabag to the Emirates as his 16th-minute goal ensured they ended the group in a flawless manner.

That however ended at the end of the group stage as they faced FC BATE Borisov in there native Belarus, the home side stunned a lacklustre Emery side who conceded on the verge of half-time. Stanislaw Drahun was the one that made them lose their first match of this season’s European campaign, and even Lacazette couldn’t take it getting sent off five minutes from time.

The return leg in England was a much better time for the English side who looked more like the side that remained unbeaten in Europe up until the last game. Four minutes through an own goal gave the hosts the lead, and then defenders Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis Papastathopoulous made sure they progressed winning 3-1 on aggregate.

This set up a tie with French side Stade Rennais, with the first leg in France, this game had echoes of the first leg of the last knockout game, even though Alex Iwobi gave the Gunners a 1-0 lead four minutes in. But, as defender Sokratis got sent off, the game was turned on its head and they conceded a minute later, let in an own goal and another late on to eventually lose 3-1.

Again, it took a much better home performance to ensure that Arsenal would progress to the quarter-finals. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang starred as he scored a double while Ainsley Maitland-Niles got the other as the gunners won 3-0 and 4-3 on aggregate.

The quarter-finals would mean they would face their toughest test yet facing Napoli, who were comfortably the second-placed side in the Serie A. However, a star performance for the departing Aaron Ramsey and an own goal saw Arsenal take a 2-0 lead to Naples.

There they fought in a much closer encounter however a Lacazette free-kick proved to be the decisive moment of the match, as the Gunners won overall by three goals over two legs.

What faced them next was Spanish outfit Valencia, at the Emirates Arsenal won 3-1 after goals from dynamic duo Lacazette and Aubameyang. However, it wasn’t plain sailing after ‘Los Ches Els Taronges’ defender Mouctar Diakhaby opened the scoring.

There were a couple of nerves heading into the semi-final second leg as the English side hoped that they would not suffer the same fate as last time they were in Spain after losing 1-0 to Atletico Madrid in last year’s semis. However, a hat-trick from Aubameyang and another from Lacazette ensured a 7-3 overall win setting up this year’s final.

A number of problems have struck this year’s final considering both sides going to this season’s final in Baku come from England, and the country is difficult to get to, which hasn’t been helped by the low-ticket numbers.

Also, a problem sparked by this season’s final is Arsenal player Henrikh Mkhitaryan will not be travelling due to security concerns for the player, due to him being Armenian. As Azerbaijan have political tensions with his country Armenia.

Regardless of all these problems that have sparked the final, it will be a hugh game with more at stake for Arsenal as they qualified in the Europa League spaces, meaning if they win this game they will regain Champions League football.