Arsenal 3-1 AC Milan - 4 key battles that decided the game

Arsenal kept their hope of an unlikely way back into the UEFA Champions League next season, as they beat an inspired AC Milan 3-1 at home and 5-1 on aggregate to proceed to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Europa League.

But what dominated the news was the way in which they won the fixture - Danny Welbeck threw himself to the ground at no apparent sign of contact, and just as Milan was starting to get a foothold on the match at 0-1, Arsenal bounced right back into the contest.

With the fight extinguished unfairly before it even began, Arsenal proceeded to stroll through the rest of the game. In the midst of all this pandemonium, there were a few key battles between players that shaped the course of the fixture.

Here's a look at 4 such important battles that played a part in deciding the game:

#1 Shkodran Mustafi vs Andre Silva

For a large part of this season, it is the defence that has been the cause of Arsenal's undoing and on more than one occasion, Shkodran Mustafi has been the man to blame. On this occasion, however, the German was on top of his game and pulled off a magnificent performance to thwart Milan's attacks.

To be fair, Milan aren't the most attacking side in the world. Despite that, the Arsenal defence broke down the chances created by the Milan midfield - and at the heart of it stood Mustafi. His presence in the air was a deterrent for crosses and his imposing positioning also helped Arsenal shift defence to attack without effort.

Andre Silva, the scorer of the lone goal for Milan on Sunday, against Genoa, was kept largely quiet by the German centre-back. The Portuguese striker's positioning was also woeful on the night, as he found himself repeatedly offside while receiving important passes.

#2 Jack Wilshere vs Alessio Romagnoli

Wilshere's resurgence will leave the Arsenal fans happy

Jack Wilshere's career has been on a slow, but steady upward climb ever since he has made a return to the Arsenal squad recently, and on Thursday night, he made a case for being at his imperious best.

Employed as an attacking midfielder behind Welbeck, Wilshere made life difficult for the Milan back-four with his knack for just being at the right place at the right time. With Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil serving him ably from the flanks, the English midfielder found himself with space to drift behind the defence.

On the other hand, Romagnoli has been Milan's best defender in the Serie A this season, but was largely ineffectual in this game. He was in no way helped by the fact that his partner, Leonardo Bonucci was having a below-par game as well, as the Rossoneri defence was sliced open with ease by the Gunners.

#3 Granit Xhaka vs Franck Kessie

Granit Xhaka has been somewhat of a paradox this season at Arsenal - his most brilliant performances are often followed by performances that make fans wonder why he is still a part of the team. This time, however, the good Xhaka showed up.

The goal might have been lucky, but it was merely the cherry on top of a thoroughly dominating performance from the Swiss midfielder. While his defensive contributions to the team were few and far between, his offensive instinct was largely helpful - the second goal effectively took all the hope out of Milan's hands.

Franck Kessie, on the other hand, had the complete opposite experience during the match. His defensive contributions were outstanding, but he let the team down when attacking as the Ivorian found it hard to find his teammates and slowed down attacks.

Kessie was more comfortable this game in a 4-man midfield than the 3-man midfield Milan played with, in the last leg, and manager Gennaro Gattuso would do well to use him in formations where he is more useful to the team.

#4 Hector Bellerin vs Ricardo Rodriguez

Bellerin had a satisfactory game, both in defense and offense — Bellerin had a satisfactory game, both in defence and attack

Like Xhaka, Hector Bellerin has also endured a mixed spell this season - alternating between the bench and poor form this season, the Spaniard is far different from the force he was a couple of seasons ago.

At the Emirates stadium last night, however, he was at his pacy best. He constantly found himself chasing down balls that the Milan players had given up on, with acres of space at his disposal to cross the ball. Crossing is still something of a weakness for him and he mostly waited for Mesut Ozil to help him out.

Tasked with marking Bellerin, Ricardo Rodriguez failed to live up to the task. His pace wasn't enough to keep up and his positioning was also not clever enough to make up for his lack of speed. The Swiss star also gave away a penalty against Danny Welbeck, but it shouldn't be held against him.

It was a complete failure on the part of referee Jonas Eriksson - who awarded the controversial penalty.