Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted he is keen for his side to avoid Atletico Madrid in Friday’s quarter-final draw after they reached the last eight of the Europa League with victory over AC Milan.
With the Gunners leading 2-0 from the first leg, striker Danny Welbeck celebrated his England recall with two goals, his first since early January, while Granit Xhaka also netted following Hakan Calhanoglu’s opener for Milan.
Victory ensured Arsenal reached a European quarter-final for the first time since 2010, while they werejoined in the quarter-finals by Atletico, CSKA Moscow, Lazio, RB Leipzig, Marseille, RB Salzburg and Sporting Lisbon.
“That [Atletico] is certainly the team you would want to avoid, but let’s see, we have no influence on that,” said Wenger, who refused to be lured into a diving row after Welbeck appeared to hit the ground under minimal contact as Arsenal levelled courtesy of a fortuitous penalty.
“Maybe looking at the reaction of the Italian players we were a bit lucky but the positive of the situation is straight away when we were 1-0 down we saw the response of the team and we released our handbrake.
“Were we lucky on the penalty? Maybe, I don’t know. I don’t want to accuse Danny Welbeck of diving before I’ve seen the situation. He looked genuine that it is a penalty. I don’t know.”
Milan fired a warning shot across the Arsenal bow inside the opening minute as striker Andre Silva’s first-time shot whistled into the side-netting following a rampaging run from right-back by former Chelsea and Liverpool striker Fabio Borini.
The visitors did, however, stoke hope of an unlikely comeback when Calhanoglu crashed a swerving 30-yard effort towards goal which deceived Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina, although their renewed belief was short-lived.
Arsenal were awarded a contentious penalty when Welbeck hit the deck following minimal contact from Milan’s Ricardo Rodriguez, and the former Manchester United striker sent Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way from the spot.
The Gunners extended their advantage on 71 minutes when the highly-rated Donnarumma made a complete hash of a long-range Xhaka shot, with the ball squirming over line.
It was left to Welbeck to round off the Arsenal scoring as he nodded home from close range after Donnarumma had repelled a header from Aaron Ramsey following Jack Wilshere’s cross.
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