VIDEO: Goal of the year in the Europa League? Ramsdale scores the equalizer from the middle of the field!

Emirates Stadium hosted the Europa League semi-final rematch between Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon. The home side quickly took the lead, but entered the second half very passively and so came the penalty in the form of a beautiful goal from the middle of the park! Goal of the year aspirant?

The opening game in the Portuguese capital ended with two goals each for both sides, so a smooth home win for Arsenal and clear progression was generally expected. However, none of that happened in the slightest.

The Gunners did open the scoring fairly quickly when captained Granit Xhaka got on the scoresheet in the 19th minute, finishing Gabriel Martinelli’s shot into a nearly uncovered net, but otherwise they had to deal with a lot of adversity.

After just nine minutes of play, Takehiro Tomiyasu left the field and was replaced by Ben White. Another forced substitution due to injury came two minutes after the opening goal.

This time it was William Saliba who had to leave the field, replaced by Rob Holding. The home side could have added more goals in the first half, but they didn’t.

On the other hand, Sporting entered the second act much more actively and Arsenal were almost reprehensibly passive. It wasn’t a giant push, but the men in green had far more of the play.

The home side really weren’t getting anything going and so came a deserved equaliser. It wasn’t quite the goal you’d probably expect, a fabulous long range shot from just outside the halfway line by Pedro Goncalves.

The shot went just under the top bar and Ramsdale backed away in vain. Goncalves can score goals and he’s showing it very regularly. For example, he scored 23 league goals in the 2020/2021 season and he’s not even a striker.

Source: CT Sport, Twitter