Arsenal has played yet another very disappointing match from an UEFA Champions League elimination phase – they were defeated by Monaco with a 1:3 score at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal entered the Round of 16 game as the main favorite to win, but the players from Monaco had slightly different plans. Even though the French club was missing a lot of their key player, the ones that were on the field showed a lot more discipline and creativity than the men led by Arsene Wenger.
None of the clubs dominated at the beginning of the game, but after about 25 minutes of play, Monaco started to show that they were a bit more prepared for this match. The Arsenal player didn’t show any chemistry on the pitch and this was their biggest problem from the first to the final whistle. The team led by Wenger looked like it was playing its first match together and was just static compared to the French club. That’s why in the 38th minute, Geoffrey Kondogbia was able to score a beautiful goal from long range and after that in the 53rd minute, former Manchester United striker finished a brilliant counter-attack. In the meantime, Arsenal missed a couple of very good opportunities to score a goal, mainly because Olivier Giroud was totally unconcentrated. The Gunners were finally able to fight back in stoppage time, as the substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lowered the score. However, just a minute later Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco added a third goal for Monaco, again from a beautiful counter-attack.
The 1:3 defeat that Arsenal suffered is pretty bad, however it’s not impossible to get over it in the next leg. Nevertheless, if the team from England wishes to have any chances of advancing to the quarter-finals, they will have to make significant changes to the way they play. If Wenger isn’t able to do that, this would mean that in the fifth consecutive season, the Gunners will exit the Champions League after the Round of 16.
For Monaco the match was a great success, as they showed some very disciplined, confident and tidy football, making very few mistakes and defending brilliantly. The most impressive thing is that they did all of this without arguably their best four players. After the match, Monaco striker Dimitar Berbatov gave an interview:
“We are confident in our ability so honestly we deserved to win. We scored our chances and in the end it’s a great win for us. It’s not over, we have one more game in Monaco and Arsenal are a great team. We are good. Arsenal is a good team but today probably we wanted the win more than them. We fought all over the pitch, won our challenges and scored the goals. In a team like Arsenal I don’t think they can allow themselves to underestimate our team today but if they did then it’s up to them.”
It will be very interesting what will happen in the next game between the two teams, which is going to be played in Monaco. For the French team it will be vital not to concede early goals and if they find a way to defend like in the first leg, they shouldn’t have any problems. For Arsenal on the other hand, it will be a very tough match.
UEFA Champions League: Monaco shocks Arsenal at Emirates!
No comments:
Post a Comment