Arsenal eased into the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 9-3 aggregate victory over PSV Eindhoven after a 2-2 draw in the second leg of their round-of-16 clash on Wednesday.
Progress was already a formality for the north London club after their stunning 7-1 victory in the Netherlands last week and when Oleksandr Zinchenko blasted them ahead in the fifth minute, PSV would have feared another hammering.
Ivan Perisic replied for the visitors though with a sublime finish in the 18th minute to give the thousands of boisterous PSV fans something to cheer.
Declan Rice headed Arsenal back in front from Raheem Sterling‘s cross before halftime but PSV earned a deserved reward for a vastly-improved display as Couhaib Driouech chipped in a 70th-minute leveller.
With the outcome long since decided, swathes of home supporters opted for an early getaway but PSV’s army of fans stayed until the end and almost saw their side snatch victory as substitute Luuk de Jong headed narrowly wide in stoppage time.
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Arsenal’s easy progress was not without a cost as Sterling was booked late on and he will now miss the first leg of next month’s quarterfinal.
Zinchenko, one of seven changes to the Arsenal side that drew with Manchester United at the weekend, had never scored a goal in European competition but opened his account with a stunner, cutting in from the right before lashing a shot into the corner past PSV keeper Walter Benítez.
That put Arsenal 8-1 ahead on aggregate and Bayern Munich‘s record Champions League knockout 12-1 aggregate win over Sporting in the 2008-09 season looked to be in range.
But Arsenal did not have the appetite to chase records as they played the game largely in cruise control.
“The most important thing is that we went through and we’re looking forward to the next game,” Zinchenko, who had a spell on loan at PSV and did not celebrate his goal, told TNT Sports.
“It was a special feeling to play against my former team — I really loved that club and received a warm welcome there.”
