This was an evening of notable milestones for Arsenal and Gabriel Martinelli, although there was no smile broader than Noni Madueke’s. The England forward was subjected to a ridiculous online petition that opposed his move across London from Chelsea in the summer. But on a rare appearance on the right flank as Bukayo Saka was given a welcome rest, Madueke scored a fantastic individual goal before adding a second after half-time to set up a comfortable victory for Mikel Arteta’s side.
It means Arsenal have become only the fifth English team to win their opening six matches of a Champions League or European Cup campaign and now need only a point from their remaining two to rubber‑stamp their progress directly to the last 16, even if in reality it is already a formality thanks to their superior goal difference.
Martinelli was not to be denied his moment either, as the Brazilian’s superb curling effort made him the first Arsenal player to score in five successive Champions League matches. His compatriot Gabriel Jesus made his first appearance in almost a year after an anterior cruciate ligament injury, meaning it was pretty much the perfect response that Arteta was looking for after losing their 18-match unbeaten record on their last outing.
“Unbelievable goal,” the Arsenal manager said of Madueke’s opener. “When you talk about individual quality and individual action and magic moments, that’s it. A player that is able to pick the ball that far, dribble past people and finish with the quality and the power that he’s done. The same as Martinelli as well. I think at this level you want to win games, you need individual players to step up and to do something different. So I’m very happy because now we have some players back in the frontline and you can tell how much better we are with them.”
With Declan Rice not having travelled to Belgium because of illness, Arteta had suggested that he would look to rotate his starting lineup after the defeat by Aston Villa. But there was further bad news when he revealed before kick-off that Jurriën Timber had not recovered from a knock in time to play, meaning Christian Nørgaard and Piero Hincapié became the seventh central defensive partnership Arsenal have fielded this season.
Given all that, it might not have been the best time to face a Club Brugge side desperate to impress their new manager, Ivan Leko, after Nicky Hayen was sacked on Monday. Yet despite impressing in a 3-3 thriller against Barcelona earlier in the competition, their weakness has been at the back and Arsenal were ruthless in exploiting it. The pace of the former Wolves loanee Carlos Forbs was a constant handful for Myles Lewis-Skelly but the England left-back managed to get forward in the 21st minute and saw his wayward shot diverted on to the post by Hincapié’s quick thinking.
Not much appeared to be on when Madueke picked up the ball midway inside the Brugge half a minute later until a stunning piece of skill took him away from his marker. The England forward seemed to glide away from two more defenders before unleashing an unstoppable shot that went in off the crossbar.
It was a goal worthy of winning any game, although Brugge continued to look dangerous, in particular through Forbs. David Raya denied the Portugal forward before Aleksandar Stankovic went close from distance. The hosts were growing in confidence. Christos Tzolis was able to find space inside the area just before half-time but Raya read his intentions before the Spaniard produced a brilliant full-length save to deny Stankovic again.
Madueke had been denied a second goal by Dani van den Heuvel’s flying save at the end of the first half but he had to wait less than two minutes after the restart for another chance. This time there was no way he could miss Martín Zubimendi’s brilliant cross from the left that picked him out unmarked at the back post.
There was nothing simple about Martinelli’s personal piece of history soon afterwards as the Brazilian – who had previously scored against Athletic Bilbao, Olympiakos, Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich – cut in from the left flank and unleashed an unstoppable curling shot to make it 3-0.
Jesus almost capped his return with a goal but saw his strike cannon back off the crossbar. Marli Salmon, who starred alongside Max Dowman for Arsenal Under-18s last season, became the fourth youngest player to appear for the club at just 16 years and 102 days and looked the part for the final stages as his side took another significant step towards potential silverware.
