Riznyk saves from spot but own goal gifts Arsenal win over Shakhtar Donetsk

As this new, distended ­Champions League format entered its mean­dering middle stage it had been tempting to wonder exactly what was at stake for Arsenal. They did not exactly put anyone straight with a bland, low-key performance but the night produced what they had come for.

Even if their European hopes were never going to live or die by this result, Arsenal moved a giant step towards continuing their campaign beyond January.

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Win the next two or three, and perhaps Mikel Arteta might be tempted to spare some of his side’s wearier legs the league phase denouement. That might be carrot enough given the sight, 20 minutes from full-time, of a clearly pained Riccardo Calafiori leaving the field here.

Arsenal could do without ­further injuries to key players and, if ­Calafiori is forced to miss the visit of Liverpool on Sunday, their manager might curse such an inconsequential midweek assignment.

That is a comment on the competi­tion itself, not Arsenal’s opponents. Shakhtar Donetsk were on the ropes at times during the first half and could have been further behind than the sole, unfortunate own goal credited to their goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk.

They are redoubtable competitors at this level, a continuing marvel given the horrors that continue to unfold back home, and hung in there sufficiently to have a genuine sniff of glory by the end. Riznyk’s save from a Leandro Trossard penalty infused the finale with some tension and his opposite number, David Raya, was called upon to ensure the picture did not transform.

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Arteta identified fatigue in his ­players afterwards, which would explain a performance of two dif­ferent speeds. Arsenal set out quickly as usual, presumably keen to earn a more sedate second period. There was always the risk for Shakhtar that, even with Martin Ødegaard and Bukayo Saka still missing, the game might be put beyond them if their hosts turned up the throttle.

Calafiori missed a glorious early chance, leaning back and spooning over from eight yards after Trossard’s corner had fallen to him, and at that point Shakhtar were barely w­eathering a storm. But they settled sufficiently to quieten an already semi-engaged crowd, most of the noise coming from a 3,000-strong away contingent that bounced in the autumn air and chanted support for Ukraine’s army, and appeared to have secured a foothold before the deciding goal arrived.

There was luck in the ­outcome but also reward for Gabriel ­Martinelli, who was Arsenal’s liveliest performer by some distance and is showing signs of a return to his ­irrepressible best. The Brazilian took a Declan Rice pass out on his left‑sided perch and, via a ­characteristic jink inside the right‑back Yukhym ­Konoplia, his drilled shot struck the base of the near post. It rebounded off the unwitting Riznyk and squirmed in, enlivening a game that was falling flat.

Riznyk set about the rest of the evening as if looking to set the record straight. He was sharp to clear ahead of Kai Havertz as Arsenal sought a quick second and then, just before the interval, saved smartly from Gabriel Jesus. There was also cause to thank Mykola Matviyenko, his ­centre-back, for a miraculous intervention to ­prevent Havertz con­verting from almost on the line.

The biggest conundrum for Arteta, based on the first 45 minutes, lay in Ben White-shaped form. White had been forced to recover at haste early on after the left‑winger Eguinaldo picked his pocket and was later booked. “We’ve played enough with 10 men,” Arteta noted ­afterwards with reference to their spate of domestic red cards, so White was spared the remainder and Mikel Merino entered the scene.

Trossard glanced beyond the far post but, beyond a first-time ­Martinelli effort that Riznyk repelled, Arsenal’s creative juices ran dry after re-emerging. Shakhtar, no mugs when given the chance to construct, were handed a presentable opening by a sloppy pass from Trossard that demanded a potentially goal-saving block by Gabriel from Eguinaldo.

They were still in the game and Arsenal already looked skittish, at least to the extent this occasion could make them so, when ­Calafiori pulled up and was withdrawn after an unsuccessful attempt to run the ­problem off.

Shortly afterwards Valeriy Bondar was adjudged, following a VAR review, to have turned Merino’s cross away with an outstretched arm. Trossard was charged with making sure but Riznyk achieved a deserved measure of redemption by repelling a poor spot-kick, aimed down the ­middle, with a trailing leg.

Now Shakhtar were visibly alive with possibility, their probing finally yielding a mightily close thing in added time. Pedrinho thought that he had caught Raya out from range but was thwarted by a full‑stretch stop that saved Arsenal any material anguish.

Shakhtar, whose 20-hour journey back to Kyiv for the weekend derby with Dynamo speaks amply of the extraordinary lengths they reach in order to play, could feel proud. For Arsenal, this was another stint on the treadmill to tick off.