Europa League: Arsenal held by Sporting, Roma beat Sociedad

Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon could not be separated in an entertaining 2-2 draw in their Europa League round of 16 first leg in Lisbon on Thursday.

Hidemasa Morita’s own goal sent the Premier League leaders back to London with honors after goals from Goncalo Inacio and Paulinho helped Sporting recover from William Saliba’s opener.

Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho’s Roma secured a comfortable 2-0 home win over Real Sociedad to reach the quarter-finals.

Mikel Arteta gave Reiss Nelson a start on the left of attack after his showstopping punch salvaged Arsenal’s dramatic comeback win over Bournemouth last weekend to keep them top of the Premier League.

The Arsenal manager also made his debut for Polish defender Jakub Kiwior after arriving from Spezia in January.

It was his centre-back partner Saliba who headed home from a corner after 22 minutes at Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade Stadium to give Arsenal the lead.

Former Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates was cautioned during a dispute after the goal, meaning he is suspended for next week’s second leg.

Sporting equalized in almost identical fashion shortly after, with Inacio heading home Marcus Edwards’ corner.

Former Tottenham midfielder Edwards then forced a beautiful save from Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner as the hosts shifted into gear.

Sporty goalkeeper Antonio Adan did well to save Gabriel Martinelli early in the second half and his team used the capital to take the lead.

Edward’s skillful back pass split Arsenal’s defense and after Pedro Goncalves’ shot was deflected, Paulinho was the quickest to react to finish.

Martinelli almost equalized with a brilliant run from half-time but, after circling Adan, was thwarted by a last-minute slide attack from Jeremiah St Juste.

However, Arsenal were level just after the hour mark as Granit Xhaka tried to find Martinelli but Morita faked the ball into his own net to exit the game on a knife edge in the second leg.

Roma comfortable

Mourinho’s Roma provided good value in the win over Real Sociedad after Stephan El Shaarawy put the hosts ahead in the Italian capital after a fine run and a Tammy Abraham cross from close range.

Take Kubo hit the post at the other end as the Basques fought back in search of an equaliser.

Roma struck again towards the end when Albanian defender Marash Kumbulla headed in a Paulo Dybala corner, giving them a strong advantage for San Sebastian.

Bundesliga surprise package Union Berlin held a 3-3 draw with Belgian club Royale Union SG while Bayer Leverkusen beat Ferencvaros 2-0 at home.

In the UEFA Conference League, Michael Antonio scored twice in the first half in West Ham’s 2-0 win at EK Larnaca, while Villarreal held Anderlect 1-1.

Manu Trigueros put the Spaniards ahead but Anders Dreyer equalized early in the second half.