By Korede James
Arsenal put behind them their recent struggles as they thumped PSV Eindhoven 7-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie in the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
With the dominant display, the Gunners became the first team in Champions League history to score seven goals away from home in a knockout stage match.
Incidentally, Mikel Arteta’s men had failed to score in back-to-back games heading into Tuesday night’s fixture.
But all that changed as a brace from captain Martin Odegaard and goals from Jurrien Timber, Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard, Mikel Merino and Ricardo Calafiori secured the historic win.
Timber opened the scoring for Arsenal on 18 minutes and Nwaneri doubled the lead just three minutes later.
Emergency striker Merino got Arsenal’s third goal in the 31st minute, but PSV pulled one back just before half-time through Noah Lang from the penalty spot.
Just two minutes into the second half, Odegaard made it 4-1 while Trossard added the fifth goal one minute later.
Odegaard got his second goal of the night midway into the second half to put his side 6-1 up before Calafiori completed the demolition job five minutes from time.
At the Santiago Bernabeu, holders Real Madrid pipped their city rivals Atletico Madrid 2-1.
Real got off to a fine start as they took the lead in the fourth minute off Rodrygo, but former Manchester City striker Julien Alvarez drew Atletico level on 32 minutes with a stunning strike.
The champions were back in front again 10 minutes after the break, this time through Brahim Diaz.
In the other matches on Tuesday, Borussia Dortmund were held to a 1-1 draw by Lille in Germany while Aston Villa beat Club Brugge 3-1 in Belgium in the early kick-off.
The second legs of the ties will be played on Wednesday next week.
RESULTS
PSV 1-7 Arsenal
Madrid 2-1 Atletico
Club Brugge 1-3 Aston Villa
Dortmund 1-1 Lille
