England striker Danny Welbeck scored twice – either side of a long-range strike from Granit Xhaka – as the Gunners won the second leg 3-1.

Hakan Calhanoglu had opened the scoring for Milan, but the Italian side fell to a 5-1 aggregate defeat.

“We would certainly want to avoid Atletico Madrid,” said Wenger.

The draw for the quarter-finals – which features teams from eight countries – will take place on Friday at 12:00 GMT.

This was Arsenal’s third win in a week after their first-leg victory in Milan and Sunday’s 3-0 Premier League defeat of Watford.

Prior to victory at the San Siro, the Gunners had lost four successive games in all competitions.

“It’s much better. We needed that to recover from our results,” Wenger said.

“It shows how the team has responded. We had a difficult game but in the end we won it. If we have the results and the way to play football, the crowds will be behind us.”

Turkish international Calhanoglu produced a stunning finish from 30 yards to give the Italians the lead.

The Gunners levelled within four minutes through Welbeck, who was controversially awarded a penalty after going down under minimal contact from Ricardo Rodriguez.

Xhaka’s long-range effort bobbled into the net for Arsenal’s second after poor goalkeeping by Milan’s highly rated Gianluigi Donnarumma, before Welbeck headed in a third.

“It was an open game. We played backwards a bit too much in the first half to protect the result. We played a very good side,” said Wenger.

“We have to improve defensively, but overall we are team with technical quality which is more attack-minded.

“We struggle a bit more when we have to defend. We finished the game more compact and more solid.”

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Source: BBC

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The Belgium international, 24, eventually joined Manchester United for an initial £75m last summer.

Farhad Moshiri told a shareholders’ meeting the player received the message “on a pilgrimage to Africa” having been set to sign a new deal at Everton.

“He had a voodoo and got the message he needs to go to Chelsea,” said Moshiri.

Premier League champions Chelsea had bid for Lukaku, but he opted instead to join Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.

Last March Lukaku’s agent, Mino Raiola, had claimed a new deal to remain at Everton was “99.9% done”.

“We offered him a better deal than Chelsea and his agent came to Finch Farm to sign the contract,” Moshiri told Everton’s annual general meeting.

“Robert [Elstone, chief executive] was there, everything was in place, there were a few reporters outside,” he added.

Moshiri said Lukaku then “called his mother” before the player revealed he had received the message telling him to join Chelsea.

Iranian billionaire Moshiri, who has put £150m of his own money into the Merseyside club to clear debts, said the Toffees offered the striker an “unbelievable” amount of money to stay.

“The issue with Romelu was not financial. As long as I am major shareholder, financial issues are irrelevant,” he said.

“I wasted two summers to keep him. First summer with his agent, him and his family we managed to keep him. Last summer we offered him a better deal than Chelsea – whatever they offered we matched but he just didn’t want to stay.

“If I tell you what we offered him you wouldn’t believe it, but they offered him a better deal.”

Lukaku spent time on holiday in Los Angeles last summer with his friend, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, and Moshiri says it proved impossible to convince him to stay at Everton.

“I got close to Rom, I like the boy, he’s a good boy, and I used all my charm to keep him and I flatly failed,” he added.

“The issue was his brain had gone. He was in LA and he wouldn’t come back.”

Moshiri was similarly unsuccessful in trying to keep Ross Barkley, who joined Chelsea last week after backing out of a £35m deal to move to the London side on transfer deadline day in August.

“I didn’t spent as much time to keep Ross as I did Rom,” added Moshiri.

The meeting also heard more on the club’s plans for a new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, which are progressing – but so are costs. Chairman Bill Kenwright said the development, which the club hope to be playing in by 2022, would cost £500m.

“Half a billion is the estimate. Half a billion is what we are dealing with,” he said.

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Source: BBC

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The Bafana Bafana international moved from 2016 African Champions Mamelodi Sundowns to French side Montpellier in January for a fee of around $2 million, making it one of the most expensive transfers in South African history.

The 24-year-old, one of very few South African players to move abroad, has quickly embraced the challenges and is settling well in France.

“If you want to develop and test yourself among the best footballers in world football, then I would encourage more South African players to go abroad,” Dolly told BBC Sport.

“I felt like I wanted to challenge myself, embrace new culture, new football and face something completely different.

“You look at Steven Pienaar [former Everton and Tottenham midfielder] who has spent over 15 years in Europe; you can only draw inspiration from him.

“I feel like I am representing my country in France so I just try to do my best so that I can open doors for more South African players,” said Dolly.

Last weekend, Bafana Bafana beat Nigeria 2-0 in their opening Group E qualifier for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations to pick up their first ever official competitive win over the Super Eagles.

Dolly starred in Uyo with a squad largely comprising of PSL stars and six overseas-based stars like Andile Jali, Tokelo Rantie, Kermit Erasmus, Bongani Zungu and Lebogang Phiri.

The former Sundowns player believes that win in Nigeria coupled with more players going to Europe will further help narrow the gap between South Africa and other countries like Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Ghana.

“Don’t get me wrong, South African players have benefited immensely from playing in the Caf Champions League and Confederations Cup, but we have to change the mentality that we struggle to settle in Europe,” Dolly said.

“Our players must be mentally strong, if your mentality isn’t right you won’t succeed anyway and that goes with life as well.

“You need to be prepared for challenges and I think with South Africa we tend to be complacent, enjoy living at home where the spotlight is on us, so we don’t want to leave the comfort zone.

Dolly, who has scored two goals in nine appearances for his country, captained South Africa at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“I think those of us playing abroad can only encourage the young ones like we were encouraged by people who did it before us.

“Take a look at the African countries playing in the World Cups and competing for the Nations Cup title, to challenge them we must sacrifice like their players who are exposed to tough leagues and competitions in Europe.”

Dolly played in all but one of Sundowns’ African Champions League matches last season including the two-legged final against Zamalek.

He started his career at Westbury Arsenal School of Excellence and joined Sundowns’ academy in 2005 before embarking on a stint with Ajax Cape Town in 2011.

Dolly returned to the Brazilians in 2015, and helped them to a domestic cup title (the Telkom Knockout), the South African Premiership title as well as the Caf Champions League during a remarkable 18-month campaign.

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Source: BBC

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It is believed the city did not meet the criteria set by the Commonwealth Games Federation and an announcement is expected later on Monday.

Durban was awarded the Games in 2015 as the only city to make a confirmed bid and it was to have been the first African host of the event.

Liverpool has expressed an interest in staging the 2022 edition.

The Games first took place in 1930 and are held every four years, featuring athletes from more than 50 countries, mostly former British colonies.

Last month, the South African sports minister Fikile Mbalula indicated the city may not be able to host the event because of financial constraints.

“We gave it our best shot but we can’t go beyond. If the country says we don’t have this money, we can’t,” he said.

A spokesperson for Liverpool city council said: “We had heard rumours that Durban might be unable to deliver the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and have already indicated to the government that we are very willing to host them instead.”

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Source: BBC

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The 23-year-old was sent home on Sunday from a training camp, with a replacement yet to be named.

“Boufal has left after examination of his injury showed he would not be capable of playing,” the national team said in a statement.

Morocco have already lost midfielders Younes Belhanda, Oussame Tannane and Watford’s Nordin Amrabat to injuries.

They play Finland in a friendly on Tuesday before heading to the tournament in Gabon, where their first match is against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Oyem on 16 January.

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Source: BBC

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Fatim Jawara was on board a boat that ran into trouble last month while crossing from Libya to Europe, the country’s football association says.

Her family confirmed news of her death, according to association president Lamin Kaba Bajo.

Many of the undocumented migrants who arrive in Italy are Gambians.

Jawara made her debut with the women’s side a year ago, after playing in the national junior team.

“She will be remembered for saving a penalty kick in a friendly encounter involving the national soccer team and the Glasgow Girls from Scotland,” Mr Bajo told AFP news agency.

More than 3,300 migrants fleeing conflict and poverty have died in the Mediterranean this year, figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show.

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Source: BBC

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