Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit a hat-trick in the Mestalla as Arsenal eased past Valencia to secure their place in the Europa League final.
Having led 3-1 from the first leg, Unai Emery’s side were favourites to advance and got the better of a back-and-forth contest, with Aubameyang hitting three to seal a 4-2 win on the night and a 7-3 aggregate success.
In a week of English comebacks in the Champions League, Aubameyang’s goals made sure Arsenal were not on the receiving end of another.
Despite falling behind to Kevin Gameiro’s 11th-minute effort, the Gunners rallied as Aubameyang equalised and Alexandre Lacazette struck to put them ahead on the night and in control of the tie.
Gameiro, who was part of Emery’s Sevilla side who won three successive Europa League titles, continued his fine scoring run in the competition with another – only for Aubameyang to add the gloss with two more efforts.
Valencia created the first chance, Laurent Koscielny doing well to beat Rodrigo to Gameiro’s near-post cross.
Goncalo Guedes fired well wide of Petr Cech’s goal when latching onto Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ clearance, the hosts attempting to start in the same manner which saw them race into a lead at the Emirates Stadium.
That goal would come as Arsenal were caught committing too many men forward and Gameiro slid in to tuck home Rodrigo’s cross from close range.
But, just as with last week’s first leg, Arsenal hit back seemingly from nowhere as Aubameyang ran on to Lacazette’s header and his cool finish levelled the scores on the night.
Lacazette then spurned a marvellous opportunity to all but put the tie beyond Valencia as he could only turn Aubameyang’s pass onto the outside of the post when Arsenal’s player of the season should have done so much better.
Ezequiel Garay’s long-range strike flew wide as the LaLiga outfit sort to make the closing stages more awkward for Arsenal.
Instead in committing more men forward they conceded a third, Aubameyang tucking away Maitland-Niles’ cross to the near-post.
