Goals from Henrik Mhikitaryan and Aaron Ramsey was enough to gift Arsenal a first leg advantage over Ac Milan. The North London club came to the game on the back of a 4 game winless streak which have raised speculation about Arsene Wenger presence in the club but they side was able to break Gattuso’s side unbeaten run which stretched to 13 games before the game.
Arsenal began the game in a shaky manner and almost conceded before the 10 minutes mark but the host missed their chances with Giacomo Bonaventura just missing a cross at the left-hand post and Patrick Cutrone firing into the side-netting after evading Shkodran Mustafi. The gunners got into the game and was able take the lead with Henrik Mhikitaryan. The Armenian attacker beat Davide Calabria before guiding a shot off the boot of Leonardo Bonucci and into the net. Arsenal should have made it 2-0 moments later with Mhikitaryan attack but he could only guide his rebound to the cross-bar after Donnarumma have denied Welbeck prior. Arsenal made the game safe before the end of the first interval with Aaron Ramsey who made no mistake on goal after a carefully crafted through ball from Mesut Ozil.
Arsenal almost had the 3rd goal at the San siro but Donnarumma was there once again to deny Daniel Welbeck after the English attacker was handed an easy chance by Frank Kessie. The Home side struggled in-front of goal as they were starved of openings and this prompted the introduction of Nikola Kalinic and Andre Silva by Generio Gattuso. The two players however failed in repaying the faith of the manager as Arsenal took firm control of the game till the end and have one foot already in the round of 8 ahead of the reverse fixture at the Emirates stadium next week unless Generio Gattuso’s side digs deep.