Lacazette free kick sends Arsenal into Europa League semis

The Frenchman struck in the 36th minute to set Arsenal's semi-final clash against Spanish side Valencia.

Hyderabad: A magnificent goal from Alexandre Lacazette helped Arsenal to beat Napoli to book their berth in the Europa League semi-final with a comfortable 1-0 win.

The Frenchman struck in the 36th minute to set Arsenal's semi-final clash with Spanish side Valencia. In the first leg, Arsenal defeated Napoli 2-0. So, handing them 1-0 defeat in an away clash Unai Emery's side advanced to the semi-final on a 3-0 aggregate win.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Italian side never posed any serious challenge to Arsenal, although the hosts enjoyed 67 per cent of possession.

“We came here with ambition, we wanted to win, to score some goals. We did it, and kept a clean sheet as well, which is important for the confidence,” said Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny.

Ancelotti said that “the game lasted 30 minutes.”“We had two chances to score and we didn’t succeed,” he added. “We have not been as lucid in the last two months, we are more predictable and because of that, we have difficulty with our finishing.”

In a tightly contested first half, Napoli threatened to make a breakthrough as Jose Callejon’s effort was saved by Petr Cech’s legs and Arkadiusz Milik had a goal chalked off for offside.

Meanwhile, Arsenal suffered a major injury blow as they lost Aaron Ramsey to an apparent hamstring problem. He is not certain for the semi-final against Valencia.

In the second half, Napoli enjoyed most of the possession but did little with it as Arsenal defence kept them at bay.