“Willy, I don’t know. He had some discomfort, and he could not carry on, so we had to take him out.”

Arteta will hope to be able to call on Saliba when the Premier League leaders face Crystal Palace on Sunday but, after comments from Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag in which he claimed Arsenal had benefitted from a clean bill of health this season, he stressed they have already managed injuries and backed them to continue in the same way – despite their European exit.

“We’ve been carrying injuries throughout the season,” he said.

“We had Emile out for four months, we had Gabriel Jesus out for four months, Alex [Oleksandr Zinchenko] for two and a half months, Thomas [Partey] for a month and a half, Eddie [Nketiah] for a month and a half.

“We had quite a lot of injuries already, but we dealt with that.

“The disappointment is not going to go away. The disappointment is there now, but it brings clarity. There are 11 Premier League games to play and the next final is against Crystal Place.

“We have to recover and put all our energy and focus there, play better than today and put the same effort as today and win.”

Arteta: Martinelli will react like Saka

It was a particularly tough night for Gabriel Martinelli, whose penalty miss proved costly as Sporting capitalised to win the shootout, but Arteta expects him to bounce back in the same way as his team-mate Bukayo Saka following his missed spot kick for England in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

“He will react well,” he said. “Obviously he is disappointed today. We all are. When you take that decision, the possibility is always there. He will learn from it like Bukayo did in the past, and move on.”

Arteta expects the same from the rest of his players and insists their work rate in the game gives him encouragement, even if they were a long way from their best.