Main man Yaya Sanogo cleverly opened the scoring and indeed his Arsenal account, only a year after joining the club, halfway through the first half after Aaron Ramsey had turned the Benfica fullback inside out.
There was another first Arsenal goal just 14minutes later when Costa Rica World Cup star Joel Campbell volleyed home exquisitely from another cross from the right, before he turned provider for Sanogo’s second, unselfishly squaring to give the Frenchman an open net.
The 21-year-old refused to relax before the break, grabbing his hat-trick goal just a minute later on the stroke of half time, chipping over the helpless goalkeeper – this time resulting from a cross from the left.
Not long after half time he continued the trend, snatching his 4th on the rebound from Ramsey’s saved strike.
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