Arsene's boys thrashed Porto 5-0 in a one side encounter at the Emirates to book their place in the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League. iSporter Suraj Kori reviews the action.
Arsenal entered the second leg with a 2-1 deficit! But one thing that was in their favor was that they had an away goal under their belt from the first leg. They had to win this match and with a goal difference because the away goal would have definitely come into play had the match been drawn. It’s been 32 years that Arsenal were able to come out as eventual winners after trailing in the first-leg. A long history was against them and this time they had to do it without captain Cesc Fabregas!
The Gunners were up to the task from the start of the match! They made ample of chances from the start. Some of them were turned down by Porto goalkeeper Helton who had to make some great saves. But Arsenal didn’t have to wait long and it was after just 10 min that they got their opening goal of the match.
Bendtner was the man for Arsenal! In Saturday’s clash against Burnley he was not up to the mark and failed to score goals. I think it was this thing that was going through his mind when he entered the ground. In that match he had more chances but didn’t score and in this match he had few chances and scored more goals! He made up for that performance and in a great style! He was always in the right place and at the right time! He didn’t miss any of the chances that came to him. He scored even the second goal to put the Gunners in driving seat. Well, he had to wait until the 90th min to score his hat-trick! This was the first hat-trick of Bendtner’s and what a day for it to come.
Bendtner was definitely the man of the night for everyone but for me it was Andre Arshavin! Now, you might be thinking why am I saying so? This is because Arshavin was the man who made the second goal for Bendtner and he even played and important part in the first goal. It was the pressure created by him that forced Porto goalkeeper Helton to come up to him and in the process Bendtner scored the deflected ball in the net. Even the 3rd goal which was scored by Eboue was made by Arshavin again! He made a long run from the Arsenal box and passed the ball to Eboue in the Porto box who eventually had to beat only Helton to score his first of the match. His passes were accurate and every time he had the ball, Porto defenders had a tough task stopping him. He showed some great dribbling skills. The goal scored by Samir Nasri was a show of sheer excellence! He took the ball past 3 Porto defenders eventually beating Helton and that too from a very difficult angle.
Porto were completely outplayed by the Gunners. At no point of the match it looked as if they were competing against Arsenal! Had it not been for Helton, the score would have been much more than 5-0. The defenders had tough time stopping the Arsenal players. Porto players made a couple of chances but were unable to convert any of them into goals. Well, Arsenal have won the match and the tie with 6-2 on aggregate and have booked a place in the Quarter Finals.
One English team has made it to the Quarters and all eyes would be on the other two teams, Manchester United and Chelsea. Let’s see who are Arsenal drawn against in the next round. But for that we will have to wait for all the return legs to get over!
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