Arsenal arrived at the Estádio José Alvalade on Tuesday, 7 April 2026, under massive pressure. Mikel Arteta’s squad walked into this quarter-final after losing two games in a row for the first time all season, which was a slump that has already put a dent in their hunt for silverware. Even though they finished top of the Champions League group stage, their recent wobbles in the domestic season threatened to undermine their European confidence at the worst time. Still, there’s no denying that Arsenal are one of the most exciting and ambitious teams in Europe right now.
The match, the Performance, and the problem
Coming off the bench, Kai Havertz steered home a last-minute winner to help Arsenal go past Sporting CP. The result gives them a vital one-goal lead to take back to the Emirates on 15 April. For most of the night, the game was a tight, scoreless grind. Both teams hit the post in the first 15 minutes, a first for the Champions League this season, setting the stage for a match that was low on highlights but high on tension.
Martin Zubimendi thought he’d broken the deadlock after 63 minutes, but VAR ruled it out because Viktor Gyökeres was offside earlier in the move. In the end, Havertz kept his head, finishing a pass from Gabriel Martinelli to snatch the lead. Interestingly, that goal was Arsenal’s fourth in the competition this year, with both the scorer and the assister as substitutes, more than any other team. On the defensive side, this was their seventh clean sheet in 11 European games, proving just how disciplined Arteta has made them.
Martin Odegaard’s injury
However, the real story broke before the game even ended. Martin Odegaard has already sat out 121 days and 23 matches this season. When he went down in the 70th minute, he looked in pain, pointing toward his leg while the medical staff checked him over. Arteta later claimed the sub was partly tactical and just a precaution, but fans aren’t buying it. With Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber already out, the injury list is starting to look brutal right when the season hits its peak. (Via GOAL)
Saliba gets 6/10 – Arsenal Player Ratings from first leg victory against Sporting CP
Are Arsenal’s injury crisis with Odegaard finally exposing the limits of their squad depth?
To be honest, the answer is yes, and it’s been that way for a while. The most frustrating part isn’t just that Odegaard is injured again; it’s that the club seem to be in denial about how his body is struggling with such a packed schedule. Arteta’s precautionary talk after the Lisbon game sounded more like a scripted excuse than the truth.
While the squad has plenty of talent, Havertz proved that with his finish, the way this team create chances still depends almost entirely on one player. That’s a compliment to Odegaard’s talent, but it’s also a huge risk that Arteta hasn’t fixed in the transfer market. You can’t try to reach back-to-back Champions League semi-finals for the first time in club history while trying to nurse a fragile captain through games of this size. The second leg is on 15 April, and Arsenal need a real solution for the Odegaard problem before then.
