Arsenal set new milestone in Champions League

Arsenal became the first English team to lead by five or more goals at half-time in the Champions League.

On the evening of November 29, after 27 minutes, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli helped Arsenal lead Lens 4-0. In the 45+1 minute, Martin Odegaard volleyed to increase the score to 5-0. According to statistics company Opta, Arsenal is the first English team to lead by five or more goals in the first half of the Champions League. They are also the first team to have five different players score in the first half of this arena.

Jesus celebrates scoring in Arsenal's 6-0 win over Lens in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage on the evening of November 29, at Emirates Stadium. Photo: Reuters — Jesus celebrates scoring in Arsenal's 6-0 win over Lens in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage on the evening of November 29, at Emirates Stadium. Photo: *Reuters*

Arsenal also became the second English team, after Man Utd, to score four goals in the first 27 minutes of a Champions League game. Man Utd set the record in their 5-0 win over Brondby in 1998-99, the season they won the treble.

Arsenal ended the match with a 6-0 win over Lens, with midfielder Jorginho sealing the score from the penalty spot in the 86th minute. This was the biggest victory by an English team against a French opponent in European competition.

Gabriel Jesus became the first player to score in each of his first four Champions League games for an English club. Before the 6-0 win over Lens, he scored in the 4-0 win over PSV, the 2-1 loss to Lens and the 2-1 win over Sevilla. The Brazilian striker missed the 2-0 win over Sevilla due to injury.

With a goal and an assist in yesterday's win over Lens, Saka became the third player to score and assist in three consecutive home Champions League games. The other two are Karim Benzema (four consecutive games in 2011-12 for Real) and Luis Suarez (three consecutive games in 2015-16 for Barca).

With 12 points from five games, Arsenal qualified as Group B winners, four points ahead of second-placed PSV. PSV are only three points ahead of Lens, but have also qualified early. Lens are only three points ahead of bottom-placed Sevilla. If they lose at home to Sevilla in the final game, the French side will drop to the bottom of the table and miss out on a Europa League spot. In the first leg, the two teams drew 1-1 at Sevilla.

Thanh Quy (according to Opta )

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