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Arsenal's £35m man Alexis Sanchez scored his first goal for the Gunners on the stroke of half-time to give the 10-man Gunners a 1-0 victory over Besiktas in their Champions League second-leg qualifier, latching on to Mesut Ozil's pass, via Jack Wilshere, to fire past Tolga Zengin.
The result puts the north Londoners into the group stage of the Europe’s elite competition.
The Gunners hardly had it all their own way, however, with the Turks impressing in the second half to create a nervous final 30 minutes at the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger’s side found themselves down to 10 men in the 75th-minute; the French right-back Mathieu Debuchy received his marching orders for a rather harsh second yellow card for pulling back Mustafa Pektemek. The recent £12m signing from Newcastle United had been one of the Gunners’ stand-out performers before that.
Demba Ba had the chance to score a crucial away goal in the closing stages, but could only thrash his close-range shot into the side netting.
But who was the man of the match for the Gunners? Click through our ratings.
Arsenal vs Besiktas - Arsenal player ratings
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