Arsenal overcame a brief comeback scare to ease past AC Milan with a 3-1 win in the second leg of their last-16 Europa League tie on Thursday.

Milan looked a lot more threatening at the Arsenal Stadium, in need of two goals to save their campaign, and ended up opening the scoring through Hakan Calhanoglu. After a controversial penalty from Danny Welbeck though, Arsenal took back control in the second half.

The individual performances weren’t quite as impressive as in Italy, but it was still a professional team showing. Here are our match ratings:

Defence

David Ospina 7

There wasn’t much Ospina could go about Calhanoglu’s strike, and otherwise he made a few nice saves to keep Arsenal ahead. His distribution was better than in some recent matches, though still not perfect. The Colombian still seemed hesitant to come for corners, but otherwise his performance was good enough.

Hector Bellerin 7.5

Bellerin missed the first leg against Milan with injury, but did well coming back into the team this time around. Although it was over on his side, there wasn’t much he could do about Calhanoglu’s strike. Otherwise he kept things fairly tight defensively. At the other end he created one chance, which was as many as all but two of his teammates.

Shkodran Mustafi 8

Mustafi is definitely going through a revival since his poor performance against Brighton a couple of weeks ago. The German won all of his duels on the night, made five clearances, three interceptions and one tackle as he generally kept the Milan strikers at bay.

Still, and this feels like the hundredth time I’ve written this, he needs to stop blasting aimless long balls down the pitch. It almost never works and just gifts possession to the opposition. That was the only blot on an otherwise solid performance.

Laurent Koscielny 6

Fresh from a week’s rest after Arsene Wenger left him out of the squad at the weekend, Koscielny only lasted 11 minutes before an injury forced him off. It was pretty terrible luck, and meant he hardly had the chance to do anything, positive or negative.

Nacho Monreal 7

Monreal returned to the team for the first time since injury forced him off in Arsenal’s cup final defeat to Manchester City. He wasn’t quite at his very best, but still looked threatening on occasion getting forward. Hopefully he can stay fit and put a run together now.

Next, midfield…

Midfield

Aaron Ramsey 8

Once again Ramsey found himself involved all over the pitch. He made tackles and interceptions at one end and had more shots than anyone else at the other. He also ended up with a pretty fortunate assist, playing a five-yard pass to Xhaka, who scored from range.

Late in the game he continued to get forward, and forced a save from Donnarumma, with Welbeck turning in the rebound. Overall a good performance, if not quite on the level of his first leg showing.

Granit Xhaka 9

Suddenly Xhaka has found his feet, and he was excellent against Milan. He completed 94% of his passes, including 100% of his long balls, and shielded the defence well. He’s looking more alert and aware of potential dangers at the moment, which is very useful.

The Swiss midfielder was already heading for man-of-the-match status before his goal, which Donnarumma should have saved. Xhaka is developing a habit for slightly fortunate goals in big games, and I don’t mind that one bit. This is the Xhaka we want to see more of.

Jack Wilshere 8

Wilshere put in an improved performance, and was unlucky not to get an assist right at the end. He looked comfortable on the ball, and fired a stinging effort at goal in the first half.

On the downside, he was caught on the ball more than anyone else once again. He can still do better, but generally played well.

Next, forwards…

Forwards

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 8

Just as in the first leg, Mkhitaryan put in a shift against Milan. He was excellent in transition, and, incredibly, won as many tackles (four) as the rest of the Arsenal team combined. He came close to scoring early in the second half, but Wenger sacrificed him for Elneny when the side needed to shut the game down.

Mesut Özil 8.5

I saw some people talk about Özil having a “quiet game”, and I suppose when you compare with the two assists he got in Milan you can understand why. The reality was that the German made things happen all night without ever stealing the spotlight.

Özil completed 90% of his passes, and created a massive six chances, the most by an Arsenal player in Europe since he did the same in November 2013. He’s on a mission to bring back Champions League football and it’s great to watch.

Danny Welbeck 8.5

Once again Welbeck showed renewed confidence in a hard-working and effective display. He created more chances than anyone except Özil, and finished off two of his own for a brace. He also won twice as many aerial duels as anyone on the pitch, for either team.

The big talking point, of course, was his dive for the penalty. There was certainly contact, with Rodriguez grabbing his shoulder, but it was nowhere near enough to go down. You don’t want to see Arsenal players playing for penalties, so it’s a bit disappointing.

On the other hand, after the one he didn’t get against Manchester United, I’m not going to get too upset about it.

Next, subs…

Substitutes

Calum Chambers 8.5

Chambers was a surprising early addition to the Arsenal back line after Koscielny’s injury. He played excellently, hardly making a mistake all night against tough opposition. On the ball he was almost faultless, completing 97% of his passes, and only Welbeck won more aerial duels. A big night for the 23-year-old.

Mohamed Elneny 8

Elneny put in another solid and calming performance after entering the fray with 20 minutes to go. He helped Arsenal keep possession well, and shored things up a bit at the back. There’s talk of a new contract on the horizon and, in this form, that’s no bad thing.

Sead Kolašinac 7.5

Kolašinac came on for the final 10 minutes and allowed Arsenal to change system to five at the back. He didn’t need to do too much in that time, but did create one injury time chance.