Marquinhos kicked off his Arsenal career in style as he scored one goal and set up another in his team’s 2–1 win at FC Zurich in their Europa League Group A opener on Sept. 8.
The 19-year-old Brazilian, who joined from Sao Paulo in the close season, opened the scoring and set up Eddie Nketiah for the winner after Mirling Kryeziu’s equalizer with a penalty.
In the group’s other match, PSV Eindhoven got off to a mediocre start as they were held 1–1 at home by Bodo/Glimt while AS Roma, who won the Europa Conference League last season, slumped to a 2–1 defeat at Ludogorets in Group C.
Jose Mourinho’s side had leveled in the 86th minute through substitute Eldor Shomurodov, only for Brazilian Nonato to add a second for the hosts two minutes later.
Real Betis claimed a 2–0 win at HJK Helsinki with a Willian Jose double in the group’s other match.
Elsewhere, the Nice v Cologne Europa Conference League match kick-off was delayed by almost an hour after crowd trouble erupted at the Allianz Arena.
There was a minute’s silence before the second half of Arsenal’s game against Zurich in Switzerland as the stadium screen showed a picture of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, who died earlier on Thursday.
A reshuffled Gunners side took an early lead when Nketiah sent the ball across for Marquinhos, who fired into the top corner at the end of a swift counter attack after 16 minutes.
The Londoners continued to dominate but the hosts weathered the storm and leveled on the stroke of halftime, Kryeziu coolly converting a penalty after Nketiah brought down Fidan Aliti.
Nketiah made up for his mistake in the 62nd minute by heading home from Marquinhos’s cross to give the Premier League leaders a deserved three points.
Later on Thursday, Manchester United will be looking to follow up on their 3–1 victory against EPL leading Arsenal at Old Trafford last weekend when they welcome Real Sociedad in Group E.
