Arsenal shock Milan to ease pressure on Wenger

PARIS: Arsenal claimed an impressive 2-0 victory at AC Milan in their Europa League last 16, first leg on Thursday to ease some of the pressure on under-fire manager Arsene Wenger.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan drove Arsenal into a 15th-minute lead with his first goal for the club, and a shellshocked Milan fell further behind before half-time as Aaron Ramsey waltzed through to score.

Wenger desperately needed a positive result after coming under pressure for a run of four straight defeats, and he got just that against a Milan side who saw a 13-match unbeaten run ended.

Gennaro Gattuso’s seven-time European champions now have it all to do ahead of the second leg at the Emirates in seven days’ time.But Arsenal, 13 points adrift of the top four in the Premier League, will be confident of continuing their bid to return to the Champions League by winning Europe’s second-tier competition for the first time.

Arsenal started brightly at the San Siro but were lucky not to concede a penalty when Hakan Calhanoglou stayed on his feet despite appearing to have been fouled by onrushing Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina.

Just moments later Arsenal broke the deadlock, as Mesut Ozil fed Armenian Mkhitaryan, a January signing from Manchester United, to cut inside and fire in a shot which deflected past home keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma off Leonardo Bonucci.

The Gunners grew in confidence after that strike, with Donnarumma making two good saves late in the opening period to deny Calum Chambers and Danny Welbeck, before Mkhitaryan hit the crossbar.

But the visitors did double their advantage before the interval, as Ramsey ran onto Ozil’s perfectly-weighted through ball and rounded Donnarumma to tap into an empty net.Milan improved in the second half, but wasted their best chances, failing to truly test Ospina.

Europa League results: Last 16, first legs: AC Milan (ITA) 0 Arsenal (ENG) 2 (Mkhitaryan 15, Ramsey 45+4).

Atletico Madrid (ESP) 3 (Niguez 22, Costa 47, Koke 90) Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS) 0.

CSKA Moscow (RUS) 0 Lyon (FRA) 1 (Marcelo 68).

Borussia Dortmund (GER) 1 (Schurrle 62) Salzburg (AUT) 2 (Berisha 49-pen, 56).

Lazio (ITA) 2 (Immobile 54, Anderson 62) Dynamo Kiev (UKR) 2 (Tsygankov 52, Moraes 79).

Marseille (FRA) 3 (Ocampos 1, 57, Payet 14) Athletic Bilbao (ESP) 1 (Aduriz 45+3-pen).

RB Leipzig (GER) 2 (Bruma 56, Werner 77) Zenit St Petersburg (RUS) 1 (Criscito 86).

Sporting Lisbon (POR) 2 (Montero 45+1, 49) Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 0.