Arsenal blasted their way into the last 16 of the Champions League on a freezing night at The Emirates on Wednesday, crushing RC Lens 6-0 with goals from six different players and ensuring that they qualify top of Group B.
The home side, back in European football’s biggest club competition for the first time in seven years, needed one point to secure themselves a place in the knockout stages of the competition. Instead, they swept Lens off the park to secure all three.
Arsenal took the lead in the 13th minute with a scrappy goal from Kai Havertz, their late-goal hero at Brentford on Saturday. As Lens failed to clear their lines the ball fell to Gabriel Jesus on the edge of the box and the Brazilian laid it off to Havertz who prodded it in off Lens keeper Brice Samba from close range.
Jesus doubled the lead eight minutes later, collecting a sideways pass on the edge of the box from Bukayo Saka with his left foot, deftly switching back to his right to send the defenders the wrong way, and burying his shot in the corner.
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Saka drove the knife in with a third in the 23rd minute, bundling in a weakly parried ball with his body after a shot by Gabriel Martinelli, who twisted that knife four minutes later with a curled shot that left Lens goalkeeper Samba lunging at thin air.
Some of Lens’ disgusted travelling supporters began letting off flares, briefly holding up play.
Gunners captain Martin Odegaard made it five with the last kick of the first half, volleying in a long cross from Takehiro Tomiyasu charging down the right wing.
Lens, last season’s Ligue 1 runners-up, stunned Arsenal 2-1 in the reverse fixture, as striker Elye Wahi scored one goal and set up another. But the Frenchman cut a forlorn figure as the mercury dipped in north London.
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice sat deep in the second half as the home side defended their huge lead, smothering the visitors’ every attempt to find their way into the area.
After a quiet second half, Arsenal were awarded a penalty after a VAR review when Lens’ Abdukodir Khusanov stuck out an arm in his own area in the 85th minute and late Arsenal substitute Jorginho slotted the ball home from the spot to complete a miserable night for the visitors.
“Today we were really attacking and we played to dominate the game – and we achieved that… Today we were really effective,” Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told reporters.
According to Opta statistics, Arsenal is the English club that leads their opponent with the fastest score 4-0 in a Champions League match, needing only 27 minutes. This achievement is equal to M.U (against Brondby in November 1998).
Arsenal is the first Premier League club to lead an opponent with a difference of 5 goals in the first half of a Champions League match.
Besides, Arsenal is also the first team in history to have 5 different players score in the first half of a Champions League match.
Arsenal’s 6-0 victory was the biggest victory ever for an English team against French opponents in the European arena.
Arsenal has won tickets to the knockout round in the European arena in the last 20 seasons (15 times in the Champions League and 5 times in the Europa League).
Bukayo Saka is the second player in the top 5 European leagues to reach 10 assists in all competitions this season, along with Bayer Leverkusen’s Florian Wirtz (10 assists in 18 matches).
From the 2003/04 season until now, Saka is the third player to both score and assist in three consecutive home matches in the Champions League, after Karim Benzema (4 consecutive matches, 2011/12 season) and Luis Suarez ( 3 consecutive matches, 2015).
Arsenal have 12 points with four wins from their five games, while Lens, who sit third with five points, can no longer reach the last 16.