Arsenal powered into the last 16 of the Europa League
Arsenal powered into the last 16 of the Europa League with a comfortable second-leg victory over Bate Borisov at Emirates Stadium.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, they scored inside four minutes when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s cross was turned in by Bate defender Zakhar Volkov.
Centre-back Shkodran Mustafi made it 2-0 before the break with a powerful header following Granit Xhaka’s corner.
Substitute Sokratis Papastathopoulos headed in the third goal after an hour.
After a disappointing performance in losing the first leg in Belarus, Arsenal needed to score at least twice to go through.
Bate were denied an equaliser just four minutes after Arsenal had taken the lead, when Stephan Lichtsteiner slid in to make a goalline clearance from Stanislav Dragun’s header.
The visitors also went close when Maksim Skavysh hit the side-netting in the first half, but Arsenal had better chances through Alex Iwobi, Xhaka and Aubameyang.
The draw for the last 16 takes place on Friday, 22 February at 12:00 GMT, and you can follow it live on the BBC Sport website.