Europa League: Welbeck at the double as Arsenal reach quarters; Dortmund crash out

London, March 16: A controversial penalty helped Danny Welbeck to a brace as Arsenal overcame a scare to beat AC Milan 3-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate to reach the quarterfinals of the Europa League even as Red Bull Salzburg comfortably held Borussia Dortmund to a goalless draw to dump Peter Stoger's men out on 2-1 aggregate.

Leading 2-0 from the first leg at the San Siro, Arsene Wenger's men found themselves behind to a superb Hakan Calhanoglu strike 10 minutes before half-time.

But any momentum Milan were building up dissipated when one of the additional assistant referees indicated Ricardo Rodriguez had fouled Welbeck when contact was minimal at best.

On the day he received an England recall, Welbeck made no mistake form the spot to score his first European goal since a hat-trick against Galatasaray in October 2014.

Milan continued to ask plenty of questions until a dreadful error from their goalkeeping protege Gianluigi Donnarumma meant Granit Xhaka's speculative strike put the overall result beyond doubt and Welbeck struck again in the 86th minute.

15 - Arsenal have had 15 different goalscorers in the Europa League this season (not including own goals); the most of any team. Range. pic.twitter.com/SGRKIVOyvK

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2018

Dortmund bow out

The Austrian side, unbeaten since August, secured a shock 2-1 lead in Germany last week through Valon Berisha's double, but goalkeepers Alexander Walke and Roman Burki were equally tested in this return stalemate despite Dortmund's need for at least two goals - a tally they never came close to achieving.

Dortmund's season is far from over as they remain well placed to seal Champions League qualification, but this shock exit for one of the tournament favourites will come as a blow to Stoger's hopes of staying in the dugout beyond the end of the campaign.

Atletico, Marseille and Lazio have it easy

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid underlined their favourites' tag as they marched past Lokomotiv Moscow into the quarterfinals where they were joined by Olympique Marseilles and Lazio.Fernando Torres struck twice for the La Liga side in a 5-1 victory in icy Moscow to seal an 8-1 aggregate victory over Lokomotiv.

Angel Correa had given the Spanish side the lead on the night and although Lokomotiv levelled, Saul Niguez restored their advantage before Torres's double, the first from the penalty spot, took the game away from the Russians.

Substitute Antoine Griezmann completed the scoring.

Dmitri Payet's penalty put Marseilles on track for a 2-1 victory at Athletic Bilbao - their first win away to Spanish opposition - to claim a 5-2 aggregate triumph.

Lazio looked vulnerable going into the second leg against Dynamo Kiev after being held 2-2 at home but former Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva gave them an early lead with only his third goal in seven seasons.

Kiev would have progressed with a 1-1 draw but they offered little and their hopes were killed off when Stefan de Vrij calmed Lazio's nerves with a late second goal for the Rome club.

Bundesliga side RB Leipzig also reached the last eight with a 1-1 draw at 2008 UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg to claim a 3-2 aggregate win.

(Source: OPTA/Agencies)

The draw for the quarterfinals will be held on Friday (March 16) at 5.30pm IST and will be shown live on Sony TEN 2.