In their thrilling 2-2 tieIn the first round of their round of 16 Europa League match matchups on Thursday in Lisbon, Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon have proved inseparable.

PHOTO | COURTESY Arsenal was held to a 2-2 draw at Sporting

Following goals from Goncalo Inacio and Paulinho that helped Sporting rebound from William Saliba's opening goal, Hidemasa Morita's goal sent the Premier League leaders back to London with an equal score.

Roma trounced Real Sociedad at home, 2-0, to advance to the quarterfinals under Jose Mourinho.

Reiss Nelson received a start on the left side of the attack from Mikel Arteta after his game-winning goal against Bournemouth last weekend kept Arsenal atop the Premier League.

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In addition, the Polish defender Jakub Kiwior made his Arsenal debut after joining Spezia in January.

PHOTO | COURTESY Sporting Lisbon held Arsenal to a draw in the Europa League round of 16

In the Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, his centre-back teammate William Saliba headed home from a corner kick by Fabio Vieira to give Arsenal the lead after 22 minutes.

Sebastian Coates, a former Liverpool defender, will miss the second leg of the match next week because of a fight he got into after the goal.

Inacio headed in a corner from Marcus Edwards for Sporting to tie the score shortly after.

When the hosts picked up the pace, former Tottenham midfielder Edwards forced a superb stop from Arsenal goalkeeper Matt Turner.

Antonio Adan, the goalkeeper for Sporting, did brilliantly to deny Gabriel Martinelli early in the second half, and his team took advantage to go in front.

After Edwards' deft reverse pass deflected Pedro Goncalves' shot, Paulinho responded quickly to seal the deal.

Martinelli came close to tying the score with a superb run from halfway but was stopped by a last-ditch slide tackle from Jeremiah St. Juste after circling Adan.

PHOTO | COURTESY Gabriel Martinelli dribbles Sporting Lisbon goalkeeper

Nevertheless, Granit Xhaka attempted to reach Martinelli shortly after the hour mark. Still, Morita deflected the ball into his net, leaving the game in the second leg on a knife edge.


- Rome Is At Ease.

After a strong run and cross by Tammy Abraham, Stephan El Shaarawy scored for Roma in the Italian capital to give the hosts a lead over Real Sociedad. Mourinho's Roma was deserving of their victory.

PHOTO | COURTESY Roma have an advantage into the second leg of the Europa League round of 16

Take As the Basques fought back in pursuit of an equalizer, Kubo struck the post at the other end.

Roma added another goal toward the end when Albanian defender Marash Kumbulla headed in Paulo Dybala's inswinging corner to give them a commanding lead they could take to San Sebastian.

League's unexpected package Union Berlin and Royale Union SG of Belgium played to a 3-3 tie, while Bayer Leverkusen defeated Ferencvaros 2-0 at home.

PHOTO | COURTESY Roma beats Real Sociedad in the Europa League first leg of the round of 16

In the UEFA Conference League, West Ham defeated EK Larnaca 2-0 thanks to two goals from Michael Antonio, while Villarreal and Anderlecht drew 1-1.

The visitors from Spain took the lead through Manu Trigueros, but Anders Dreyer equalized early in the second half.