Key events<\/p>\n
Show key events only<\/p>\n
Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n
25 mins: Madueke curls the ball in, and Rui Silva claims.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 24 mins: Madueke is tripped by Araujo as he advances off the right flank towards the penalty area. Free kick.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 22 mins: Arsenal<\/a> win and waste a free-kick and everyone is forward for it, which means when it\u2019s passed to Catamo he is essentially clean through on goal, albeit about 90 yards out. Martinelli manages to chase him down and takes the ball off him soon after he gets into Arsenal\u2019s half.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19 mins: Now Madueke nicks the ball away from Araujo and it rolls to Gyokeres, who shoots well over the bar from the edge of the area.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18 mins: Saliba gives the ball away to Hjulmand, who passes on to Trincao, whose shot goes wide.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 17 mins: Suarez is played through, bursts into the left of the penalty area, and then a) shoots across goal and wide enough that it ends in an Arsenal<\/a> throw-in, and b) is given offside.<\/p>\n The dangerous Luis Suarez has an effort on goal for Sporting. Photograph: Adrian Dennis\/AFP\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.25 EDT<\/p>\n 16 mins: Catamo, back on the pitch and showing no ill effects, is now getting booed. Sporting<\/a> zip the ball around a bit, working it out of defence and into midfield, but that\u2019s where this particular story ends.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 14 mins: Catamo is still down pretending to be injured, while two physios pretend to be looking after him. The referee speaks to both captains about something, and tells the physios to clear off.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12 mins: Catamo takes on Hincapie, gets to the byline, runs the ball out of play and then goes down clutching a shin and rolling around. Hincapie did make contact with his ankle, but not where Catamo is clutching, and about two paces before he went down. That is, to be frank, embarrassing.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10 mins: Two goals already in Munich, where Bayern have just equalised to make it 1-1 on the night, and 3-2 on aggregate.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 7 mins: An early corner for Arsenal<\/a>, but Rice\u2019s delivery clears everyone and bounces out of play.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 mins: Arsenal have had 82% of the early possession. Now they get into Sporting\u2019s penalty area for the first time, great work from Eze to keep the ball and find Madueke, but that\u2019s as good as it gets.<\/p>\n Eberechi Eze runs clear of Luis Suarez. Updated at\u00a015.12 EDT<\/p>\n 4 mins: Now Suarez goes down, also thinking he was fouled, and again the referee waves play on. Promising first few minutes from the man in black. \u201cThis might be me trying to deal with my stress as an Arsenal<\/a> fan, but I\u2019m feeling pollyannaish about this match,\u201d writes K\u00e1ri Tulinius. \u201cIf the gunners win, they\u2019ll have some much needed self-belief for the league run-in. If they lose it could be the kind of rock-bottom that teams use to kick against and get momentum back. The problem with the latter is that one person\u2019s rock bottom is another\u2019s rung on a ladder into the depths.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 2 mins: Very high-tempo start. Eze passes to Gyokeres, who plays a first-time return but Eze has run into a defender and fallen over. He thinks he was fouled, but the referee disagrees.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 1 min: Peeeeeep! Luis Suarez gets the ball rolling.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The captains exchange pennants. Sporting\u2019s looks rubbish. Not even embroidered. It\u2019s like they forgot their proper pennant and had to buy one from a dodgy bloke outside the ground. It\u2019s less a pennant than an insult.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The players are on the pitch! They have departed the tunnel!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAren\u2019t we all loving the latest in the \u2018Carry On\u2019 series, Carry On Arsenal<\/a>,\u201d writes Jeremy Boyce, who\u2019s clearly got his finger on the cultural pulse. Zeitgeist, consider yourself nailed. \u201cHonestly, you really couldn\u2019t make it up, except they manage to do so and put out a new edition every year. As a neutral it\u2019s totally titterworthy watching them blow everything they\u2019re going for, Frankie Howard would be proud of them. Arteta is perfect for the James Robertson Justice role, always believing they\u2019re going in the right direction. Rice is Sid James, streetwise and smoking crafty fag wondering how it\u2019s all gone so wrong. Kenneth Williams? Charles Hawtree? Dowman is clearly the outlier Jim Dale figure, entertaining, slight, light, peripheral but influential. Their problem is the Hattie Jacques weight of expectation that may ultimately be a burden too heavy to bear. She was a great performer, are they?\u201d<\/p>\n Kenneth Williams, Sid James and Terry Scott in Carry on Henry. \u201cDeclan Rice is Sid James, streetwise and smoking crafty fag wondering how it\u2019s all gone so wrong.\u201d Photograph: The Rank Organisation\/AllstarShare<\/a><\/p>\n Mikel Arteta has an extremely unrevealing chat with TNT Sport. \u201cWe know the opportunity that we have, so we\u2019re very excited for the game,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to be more efficient than we were [on Saturday],\u201d he adds. On his squad\u2019s fitness issues, he says: \u201cTo be fair, all the boys are desperate to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s a curious thing, this training top: in photos those vertical stripes are very bright, on the TV (mine, at least) they\u2019re very subtle. I haven\u2019t seen one in the flesh to know the truth of it.<\/p>\n Declan Rice of Arsenal warms up before the Champions League quarter-final, second leg against Sporting. Photograph: Marc Atkins\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n An email! \u201cBarry Glendenning is absolutely right – Arteta\u2019s anxiety and stress has rubbed off on his players and that is why they are losing,\u201d writes Jeff Sax. \u201cHe lacks the composure and confidence that Pep for example has.\u201d I think there\u2019s some truth to this, but I\u2019m also just not completely convinced by this squad. I mean, it\u2019s really good. But it\u2019s not great, and the real issue is that when the players look around the dressing room, that\u2019s also what they think. They look like they don\u2019t truly believe they can win the league, and perhaps the only thing that can convince them they\u2019re a title-winning squad is actually winning the title.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Asked yesterday whether either Bukayo Saka or Jurrien Timber might play tonight, Mikel Arteta said: \u201cMaybe one of them, let\u2019s see.\u201d Well we have seen, and the answer is neither of them, and also no Martin Odegaard or Riccardo Calafiori. But Declan Rice, who missed training yesterday, is in.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams!<\/p>\n Team sheets have been handed in, and tonight\u2019s lineups are as follows:<\/p>\n Arsenal: Raya; Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Eze, Martinelli; Gyokeres. Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, White, Jesus, Norgaard, Trossard, Havertz, Dudziak, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman, Salmon. Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n
Photograph: Allstar Picture Library Ltd\/Ed Sykes\/Apl\/SportsphotoShare<\/a><\/p>\n
Sporting: Rui Silva; Eduardo Quaresma, Diomande, Goncalo Inacio, Araujo; Hjulmand, Morita; Catamo, Francisco Trincao, Pedro Goncalves; Suarez. Subs: Joao Virginia, Debast, Geovany Quenda, Vagiannidis, Kochorashvili, Faye, Daniel Braganca, Joao Simoes, Flavio Goncalves, Salvador Blopa, Rafael Nel, Ricardo Mangas.
Referee: Fran\u00e7ois Letexier (France).<\/p>\n