Arsenal Beaten But Qualifies, Spurs Crashes Out Despite First-leg Advantage

 

Premier League sides and North London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal both had similar results but different fate in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 16 ties.

The Gunners won the first leg of their tie against Olympiacos away from home 3-1 while Spurs won the first leg against Dinamo Zagreb in England 2-0.

Mikel Arteta’s men had Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang back in the squad after missing Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Spurs in the Premier League at the weekend due to disciplinary issues.

However, his presence didn’t reflect on the scoreboard as the Gunners failed to score in a game in 5 matches.

Moroccan forward Youssef El Arabi scored his fourth goal in four games six minutes after the restart to give the Greek giants a lifeline.

Olympiacos needed to score three goals to move through into the next round but no further goal came after El Arabi’s strike.

Meanwhile, Tottenham let down a 2-0 first-leg win to crash out 3-2 on aggregate after losing 3-0 to Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb after extra time.

A Harry Kane’s double in the first leg saw Jose Mourinho’s side in the advantage but Dinamo Zagreb neutralized the English striker.

Croatian forward Mislav Orsic scored a Hattrick to push his side into the quarter-finals, this is coming after his brace in the Croatian league at the weekend against Varazdin.

His first goal came in the 62nd minute of the second half, sending a curler past Hugo Lloris from outside the box.

He then converted a cutback from Nigerian midfielder Iyayi Atiemwen with seven minutes remaining in regular time.

With the tie level at 2-2 on aggregate, the game went into extra time and he completed his hattrick with a brilliant individual effort, driving the ball from midfield and putting a powerful shot past Lloris in goal.

 

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu