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BUKAYO SAKA’S double fired Arsenal a step closer to the Champions League last 16 as the England forward inspired a 3-0 win against Monaco on Wednesday. Saka netted late in each half and Kai Havertz struck in the closing minutes at the Emirates Stadium to lift Mikel Arteta’s side into third place in the revamped league phase. The Gunners have won four of their six European games this term and, with two matches remaining, they control their destiny in the race for the top-eight finish that guarantees automatic progress to the last 16. Clubs that finish ninth to 24th in the 36-team first phase face a play-off to determine if they will advance. With games against Dinamo Zagreb and Girona to come in January, the north Londoners will be confident of avoiding that unwanted obstacle. After a damaging 1-1 draw against Fulham in the Premier League last weekend, Arsenal’s fifth win in their last six games in all competitions was a welcome tonic. With Arsenal’s defensive injury crisis showing no signs of abating, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu were all absent. That meant Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey started out of position at right-back despite missing training on Tuesday. Myles Lewis-Skelly, 18, came in at left-back for just his second Arsenal start, with his other coming in the League Cup against third-tier Bolton. The youngest player to start a Champions League match for Arsenal since Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2011, Lewis-Skelly rose to the occasion with a composed display. In contrast, Gabriel Jesus has gone 32 games without a goal for Arsenal and the Brazilian’s lack of confidence was clear in the hosts’ first dangerous attack. Picked out by Gabriel Martinelli’s pass, Jesus should have hit the target but could only muster a tame shot straight at Monaco keeper Radoslaw Majecki. Jesus failed to time his run well enough to reach Mikel Merino’s teasing cross moments later. Aleksandr Golovin nearly caught out Arsenal keeper David Raya with a long-range strike that fizzed just past the far post. Jesus’ travails showed no signs of ending as a raking long pass sent him clean through for a low shot that was too close to Majecki. The 27-year-old was having a torrid time and, teed up by Martinelli, again he couldn’t beat Majecki with a close-range effort that drew a fine save from the ‘keeper. But Jesus’ clever movement was at least causing Monaco problems and he played a key role in Arsenal’s 34th-minute opener. Lewis-Skelly slipped a superb pass to Jesus, who ran in behind the Monaco defence and delivered a low cross that presented Saka with a simple tap-in for his fourth goal in his last six games. Martin Odegaard squandered a golden opportunity to double Arsenal’s lead just before half-time as he robbed Soungoutou Magassa, but fired wide with only Majecki to beat. Thilo Kehrer should have made Arsenal pay for their profligacy early in the second half, but his header flashed wide from 10 yards. Arteta’s men lost concentration for a long period after the break and Takumi Minamino tested Raya before Breel Embolo drilled inches wide following sloppy defending from William Saliba. But Arsenal emerged unscathed and wrapped up the points in the 78th minute. Majecki didn’t clear his lines quickly enough when Havertz put the ‘keeper under pressure, allowing Saka to steer his shot into the empty net from close range. There was still time for Arsenal to put further gloss on the scoreline in the 88th minute as Havertz turned in Saka’s shot.

One of Baltimore’s most prominent families was thrust into the spotlight this week, when a son of the clan, Luigi Mangione , was arrested by Pennsylvania police and charged in the Dec. 4 fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . Locally active in philanthropy, both via individual donations and through the Mangione Family Foundation, the Mangiones gave millions to Baltimore’s various institutions and nonprofits, including more than $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center and more to the American Citizens for Italian Matters, Baltimore Opera Company and others. Loyola University, which counts Mangione alumni among their ranks, has an aquatic center named after the family, and GBMC previously had a high-risk obstetrics unit, since closed, that bore their name. Their story is a uniquely American one: The Mangiones went from deep poverty to massive wealth in just three generations, with one cousin, Nino Mangione, now a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates. Despite an eventually deep portfolio of development properties and government contracting for 20 years, the family patriarch, Nicholas Mangione Sr. , said he still faced prejudice for his background when he attempted to buy land to build the Turf Valley Golf and Country Club, now the Turf Valley Resort, in Ellicott City. “Tongues started wagging,” Mangione told The Baltimore Sun in 1995. “People [were] wondering where an unknown Italian could get the money for a $5 million project. In those days, there were no Italians in real visible positions [in Howard County].” Mangione said the implication was that he must have backing from the mob, so he countered sharply. “People thought I needed money from the Mafia to buy this place. They asked me what family I belonged to,” he said. “I told them, ‘I belong to the Mangione family. The Mangione family of Baltimore County.’” The family is now defending its name again. On Monday, members released a statement on social media expressing dismay at Luigi Mangione’s arrest, saying they were stunned by the news. “We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” the family wrote . “We are devastated by this news.” The family did not respond to a request for comment via a family attorney or their foundation. How they went from the Depression-era streets of the city’s Little Italy to its philanthropic elite is straight out of a Horatio Alger novel. Nicholas Sr. was born in Baltimore’s Little Italy, and spent his first eight years in a one-room apartment with an outdoor privy, according to a 2008 Sun article. He earlier told The Sun his Italian immigrant father, Louis, could neither read nor write, and worked in the city water department until he died of pneumonia. Today, the Mangione family is a sprawling one, with a business empire to match: Nicholas Sr., made the beginning of the family’s fortunes in the post-World War II years as a bricklayer and contractor . He built up his business holdings throughout the following decades, with his wife, Mary , growing their family to include five sons, five daughters, and 37 grandchildren, including Luigi. The family’s holdings range from construction to commercial real estate to local radio station WCBM-AM and a majority stake in Lorien Health Services, which operates multiple assisted living facilities in Maryland. Aside from the Turf Valley Resort, with its 10,000-square-foot ballroom, 220-room hotel, and 85-seat amphitheater, the Mangiones also own the Hayfields Country Club in Cockeysville and a slew of companies registered in Maryland . Its family foundation had net assets of $4.4M as of its 2022 tax filing , the most recent on record. The Mangione Family Foundation’s stated focus is supporting, “Organizations for any of the following purposes: religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition (as long as it doesn’t provide athletic facilities or equipment), or the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.” Politically, the Mangiones have been active across the aisle. Luigi Mangione’s parents, Louis and Kathleen Mangione donated $35,935 to state and local politicians from 2005 through 2023, according to data from the State Board of Elections. Half went to Nino Mangione ’s campaign account for his state delegate races from 2018 through 2023. Other donations went to Howard County executives Calvin Ball and Ken Ulman, both Democrats, and Allan Kittleman, a Republican, along with additional high-profile candidates of both parties, including former Govs. Martin O’Malley and Robert L. Ehrlich, and former Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon. The immense number of Mangiones also was briefly confusing for Baltimoreans on Monday. Aside from Nicholas Sr. and Mary Mangione’s 10 children and 37 grandchildren, city counts at least two other Mangione families, who were briefly inundated with phone calls from the media and queries from former schoolmates and acquaintances. One of Luigi Mangione’s two sisters is a physician at the University of Texas Southwestern, according to her LinkedIn profile. Another sister is a visual artist. Neither sister responded to requests for comment. His mother, Kathleen, comes from a family that owns a funeral home, the Charles S. Zannino Funeral Home in Highlandtown, the Baltimore Fishbowl reported , and now runs a travel agency, KZM Boutique Travel, which had removed its website as of Tuesday evening. His father, Louis was groomed to help take over the family’s business empire, according to a 2003 Washington Post article . Have a news tip? Contact Riley Gutierrez McDermid at rmcdermid@baltsun.com or Frank Gluck at fgluck@baltsun.com.Putin apologizes for crash but stops short of saying Azerbaijani plane was shot down