Arsenal put one foot in the last eight of the Europa League after beating AC Milan 2-0 in their round of 16 first leg tie played at the San Siro on Thursday evening.

Super Eagles winger, Alex Iwobi was named among the substitutes for the visitors in the encounter.

Arsenal made a brilliant start in the game and were ahead after 15 minutes, a wonderfully lofted pass from Mesut Ozil picked out Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the Milan box and the Armenian did well to shrug off Davide Calabria and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma with a deflected effort.

The lead was doubled on the stroke of halftime when Aaron Ramsey timed his run to meet a pass from the brilliant Ozil, rounding Donnarumma again to poke home for 2-0.

Gennaro Gattuso's side piled more bodies forward in the second period as they sought a foothold back into the game, Suso nearly finding FranckKessie with a looping pass but Laurent Koscielny made a last-ditch interception to poke away from the Ivorian a minute past the hour mark.

There was still time for David Ospina to beat Nikola Kalinic to an Andre Silva's pass seven minutes from time, the Colombian showing good reflex to snuff out any traces of danger before there was one.

Alex Iwobi was not utilized from the bench by Arsene Wenger for the entirety of the game.

Emmanuel Chinaza

Photo Credit : arsenal.com