Arsenal blew Slavia Prague away 4-0 at the Sinobo Stadium to book their place in the Europa League semi-finals in style.
Make no mistake, this was set to be an incredibly tough fixture for Arsenal with the Czech side unbeaten in 31 home matches, so the odds looked stacked against the Londoners.
And it seemed like it wasn’t going to be their night after Emile Smith-Rowe saw an early goal chalked off for offside by VAR. But the disallowed goal spurred Arsenal on, and three minutes later, they had the ball in the back of the net.
Smith-Rowe this time turned provider as he produced some neat footwork to embarrass the Slavia Prague defence before slipping Nicolas Pepe in, who squeezed the ball past Ondrej Kolar’s near post.
And the Arsenal faithful didn’t have to wait long for their second of the night.
Bukayo Saka was brought down inside the box by Jakub Hromada and the penalty was given. Up stepped Alexandre Lacazette, who coolly slotted the ball into the net.
Similarly Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking forward to a big European night in the semi-finals of the Europa League against Roma.
Manchester United cruised into the last four courtesy of a 4-0 aggregate success over Granada, who never threatened after falling behind to an early goal from Edinson Cavani.
The semi-final will see the Red Devils pitted against Serie A side Roma, and Solskjaer is looking forward to the occasion.
“They have had two good games against Ajax,” Solskjaer told BT Sport. “They defend well, as Italians always do.
“They are an experienced team and we all know [Edin] Dzeko, so any ball in the box is a dangerous one.
We are looking forward to it, we are in the semis and it feels like a proper European tie.
“Roma is a club with loads of history. But we have done well against Italian teams before.”
Solskjaer has tasted defeat in all four semis he has contested as boss of United, and is looking to get over that hurdle and end the season on a high.
He said: “We are looking forward to it and hoping to get to the final. If we can finish the season with a final and a trophy that would be great.”
Solskjaer was pleased with the overall performance, but would like to see his side take better care of the ball.
“They (Granada) do give you a game, a physical game,” Solskjaer said. “They put bodies in the box, throw crosses in and you have to defend in these types of games.
“And when you don’t keep the ball as well as we should do, it is more difficult.
2-0, a clean sheet and some good individual performances, so walking into Sunday full of confidence.
United face Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday, where a win would move them within eight points of leaders Manchester United, and Marcus Rashford is likely to be available.
“We hope he is going to be ready,” Solskjaer said. “Today was not about risking him.
He was on the bench just in case as you never know in a knockout tie.
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“He has been playing on with a sore foot.”
