Yahoo Sport 
Europa League Review: Welbeck and Ramsey save Wenger’s embarrassment, Marseille and Salzburg produce exceptional displays
Danny Welbeck scored with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining and Aaron Ramsey in stoppage time to ensure that Arsenal made it the semi-finals of the Europa League. The Gunners may have held a 4-1 lead from last week, but they were visibly rattled when CSKA Moscow scored twice.
CSKA had much more control and their supporters created an atmosphere which suggested that they had been watching the midweek Champions League action and fancied their own chances of upsetting the odds. That theory was given credence when the Russians took the lead, as Fedor Chalov scored only his second goal for the club.
His first one had come on Monday in the 2-1 loss against local rivals Dinamo Moscow, who are seven positions lower in their domestic table. The 20-year-old goal scorer was only present because forward Pontus Wernbloom was unavailable.
Petr Cech had produced a decent save from Kirill Nababkin, who outmuscled Nacho Monreal to win the header and Chalov was quickest to react. Nababkin had missed the first leg through suspension, with Viktor Goncharenko’s team looking much fresher and vibrant as a result.
Ramsey was fortunate not to concede a penalty when he handled the ball in the area just after the goal. Arsenal lacked fluency in their approach and their final ball often let them down.
Mohamed Elneny did put the ball in the net, but the Egyptian midfielder was clearly offside. Cech was called into action a number of times, although CSKA couldn’t find the killer finish.
CSKA weren’t the only side to make adjustments, as Arsene Wenger was forced to make his own alterations. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was ruled out with knee ligament damage suffered in last week’s encounter, with Welbeck replacing the Armenian out wide and Granit Xhaka not travelling to Russia due to illness.
CSKA were denied their first victory over a Premier League opponent in seven attempts, when Ramsey’s goal made it 2-2 on the night. Arsenal have only won two of their last 10 away games, but both victories came in this competition.
Marseille and Leipzig produce an Europa League classic
If the first leg between RB Leipzig and Marseille failed to live-up to the hype, then there could be no such accusations about the return at the Orange Velodrome. The game provided more drama in the opening six minutes than it managed in the entire 90 in Germany.
Bruma blasted the ball into the bottom corner to give Leipzig an immediate away goal, which meant that Marseille needed to score three. The French side wasted little time in their response and they netted just four minutes later when they bumbled the ball over the line through an own goal from Stefan Ilsanker.
Rudi Garcia’s side grabbed another inside nine minutes, when Morgan Sanson was brilliantly denied twice in quick succession by Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi only for Bouna Sarr to score the follow-up. Dimitri Payet thought that he had put Marseille ahead on aggregate when he hit an unstoppable shot in the 18th minute, but the goal was disallowed for a foul by striker Kostas Mitroglou in the build-up.
Star player Florian Thauvin had returned to the team after missing the last month due to a thigh problem. He was relatively quiet by his standards in the first half, but then he popped up to side-foot a Payet cross past Gulacsi just seven minutes before the break.
Leipzig were understrength with Timo Werner only fit enough to start on the bench, whilst Willi Orban and Emil Forsberg were also surprisingly sitting next to the striker. Ralph Hasenhuttl did include Naby Keita, who took a heavy knock in the 4-1 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on Monday.
It was just as well, as the Liverpool-bound midfielder set-up Jean-Kevin Augustin to make it 3-3 in the tie and Leipzig took the initiative. However, it lasted only five minutes with Payet weaving into the box and using the outside of his boot for a fantastic finish.
Yussuf Poulsen had a great opportunity in stoppage time to win it for the away side. Then, Leipzig had a corner right at the death and Marseille broke away on the counter attack to roll it into the empty net with Gulasci up the field to make it 5-2 on the evening.
Salzburg don’t know when they are beaten
The Austrians produced a dramatic comeback to become the first team from their country to reach the last four in Europe since 1996. It looked as though Salzburg were going to come up short, as they had decent possession around the Lazio area, but often failing to find the penetrative pass.
Hwang Hee-Chan returned from suspension to have an early opportunity when he forced a save from Lazio keeper Thomas Strakosha. Luis Alberto provided an excellent flick into the path of Ciro Immobile just before half-time, but goalkeeper Alexander Walke used his experience and stood-up to deny the Italian forward.
Salzburg surprisingly lost to LASK at the weekend, which was the first time they have lost back-to-back matches since October 2016. Lazio took the advantage when Immobile struck 10 minutes after the restart.
However, Munas Dabbur hit back immediately which will have given them confidence. Three goals in six minutes from Amadou Haidara, Hwang and Stefan Lainer meant that Salzburg won 4-1 and 6-5 on aggregate.
Salzburg are emphatic on home soil with 14 clean sheets in their last 18 matches. They are unbeaten at the Red Bull Arena this season, as they have a never give-up attitude inspired by their coach Marco Rose.
Sporting could have done even better
Atletico Madrid didn’t have it all their own way with Sporting CP producing a decent display and giving the Spaniards a real test. The Portuguese gave Diego Simeone’s team a scare and although they can be proud of their performance, they weren’t at their best for a number of reasons.
William Carvalho lasted only 45 minutes in the first leg and completely missed this encounter. Sebastian Coates was also a late inclusion at the Wanda Metropolitano and that contributed to his early mistake, whilst leading scorer Bas Dost and experienced left-back Fabio Coentrao had to sit out this one because of an accumulation of bookings in the competition.
Jan Oblak produced a world-class save from a Coates header, although the Slovakian shot-stopper will have felt he should have done better with the cross for Fredy Montero’s goal. Sporting had suffered further misfortune when former Barcelona defender Jeremy Mathieu was forced to withdraw in the 26th minute, but it was just two minutes later that they scored the only goal of the game.
Atletico are rightfully the favourites for the tournament, so it’s vital that a club has a team at full strength in order to realistically defeat them. Jorge Jesus’ men are now unbeaten in their last 21 matches on home turf, which illustrates their pedigree.
