Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said he would prefer to
avoid a Europa League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid after beating AC
Milan in the last 16. England
striker Danny Welbeck scored twice - either side of a long-range strike from
Granit Xhaka - as the Gunners won
the second leg 3-1. Hakan
Calhanoglu had opened the scoring for Milan, but the Italian side fell to a 5-1
aggregate defeat.
"We
would certainly want to avoid Atletico Madrid," said Wenger. The draw
for the quarter-finals - which features teams from eight countries - will take
place on Friday at 12:00 GMT.
This was
Arsenal's third win in a week after their first-leg victory in Milan and
Sunday's 3-0 Premier
League defeat of Watford. Prior to
victory at the San Siro, the Gunners had lost four successive games in all
competitions.
"It's
much better. We needed that to recover from our results," Wenger said. "It
shows how the team has responded. We had a difficult game but in the end we won
it. If we have the results and the way to play football, the crowds will be
behind us."
Turkish
international Calhanoglu produced a stunning finish from 30 yards to give the
Italians the lead. The
Gunners levelled within four minutes through Welbeck, who was controversially
awarded a penalty after going down under minimal contact from Ricardo
Rodriguez.
Xhaka's
long-range effort bobbled into the net for Arsenal's second after poor
goalkeeping by Milan's highly rated Gianluigi Donnarumma, before Welbeck headed
in a third. "It
was an open game. We played backwards a bit too much in the first half to
protect the result. We played a very good side," said Wenger.
"We
have to improve defensively, but overall we are team with technical quality
which is more attack-minded. "We
struggle a bit more when we have to defend. We finished the game more compact
and more solid." On the
subject of Welbeck's penalty, Wenger said he would "give an honest
answer" after re-watching the incident, but AC Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso
insisted it was not a spot-kick.
"In
the same way a player can make a mistake, a referee can do a mistake," he
said. "Even
myself when I was a player, I would take advantage of individual situations.
I'm not going to judge these things."
Former
England midfielder Jermaine Jenas, speaking on BT Sport, said: "It was a
bad dive. It is cheating. Players like Dele Alli have been accused of that. "It
does tarnish the performance slightly. It was Wenger who said the English are
getting better at diving; it was one of his own tonight."
'We can play against the
top teams in Europe'. Victory
means Arsenal will play in a first European quarter-final since 2010, when they
were knocked out of the Champions League 6-3 on aggregate by Barcelona. "We
needed it. It was about getting the job done tonight and being
professional," said midfielder Jack Wilshere, who returns to
the England squad for the forthcoming friendlies against the
Netherlands and Italy.
"We
didn't start well but it woke us up. They got a good goal early on and made us
work for it." Arsenal
and Atletico Madrid are favourites to win the Europa League after Borussia
Dortmund - previously tipped for the title - lost 2-1 on
aggregateto Austrian side RB Salzburg.
"We
are happy to be through to the next round and we will see who we get,"
Wilshere added. "When
we looked at the draw before, AC Milan was probably not one of the teams we
fancied but we showed we can play against the top teams in Europe."
Source: BBC