Arsenal progressed to the Europa League quarter-final with a 3-0 win over Stade Rennais FC on Thursday, overturning a 3-1 defeat in the first leg of the tie.
Thanks to their one away goal in Rennes, Arsenal knew that a 2-0 victory would be enough to progress to the quarter-finals on Thursday night. With supporters prepared for a long 90 minutes trying to break their opposition down, it was rather surprising to see the Gunners find those two goals within 15 minutes.
First, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored from close range, set up by Aaron Ramsey. Then, the striker turned provider, crossing for Ainsley Maitland-Niles to head home his first goal at the Emirates Stadium.
After that, Rennes started to come back into the game, no longer having the motivation to stick 11 men behind the ball. However, in the second half, Aubameyang was the player to score the third of the game at the end of a nice team move.
As a result, Arsenal progressed 4-3 on aggregate. Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match.
Starting XI
- Petr Cech 7.5
- Shkodran Mustafi 5
- Laurent Koscielny 7.5
- Nacho Monreal 7.5
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8.5
- Aaron Ramsey 8.5
- Granit Xhaka 7.5
- Sead Kolasinac 8
- Mesut Özil 7
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 9
- Alexandre Lacazette 6.5
Substitutes
- Substitute 1 – Henrikh Mkhitaryan 7.5
- Substitute 2 – Alex Iwobi 6.5
- Substitute 3 – Lucas Torreira N/A
For a full breakdown of each player’s performance, check out our in-depth player ratings.