Arsenal began their Champions League campaign with an embarrassing defeat in Croatia, as the Gunners were stunned as they lost 2-1 to Dinamo Zagreb.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain rebounded the ball into his own net to give the hosts the lead and Junior Fernandes doubled the advantage in the second-half, with Arsenal losing Olivier Giroud to a red-card before the interval.
Theo Walcott pulled one back for Arsene Wenger’s side but by this stage the damage was done, leaving Arsenal with plenty of questions to be answered.
Olivier Giroud, back in the starting line-up after scoring off the bench at the weekend, had a great chance for the opening goal as he rose to meet Santi Cazorla’s corner but Eduardo pulled-off a decent save to keep the scores level.
Giroud then struck the post with a lopping header after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain surged down the right side, seeing his rebound saved by the keeper, as Arsenal continued their early pressure. Disaster then struck as the hosts took a shock lead.
Mathieu Debuchy left the right-side open with acres of space and Josip Pivaric capitalised, charging into the box and seeing his initial attempt saved by David Ospina but the rebound cannoned back in off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Arsenal lost Olivier Giroud six minutes before the break as he was given a second-yellow card for a clumsy challenge after previously being booked for his reaction to a minor foul, in what was a poor decision from Giroud but he was rather unfortunate to receive his marching orders.
Immediately after the break Dinamo came inches away from doubling their advantage as a corner led to El Arabi Hilal Soudan striking the post with a chance he should’ve done better with, whilst at the other end Mesut Ozil failed to connect with a cut-back from Kieran Gibbs, before the German slotted home but saw the offside flag raised.
Junior Fernandes then doubled Dinamo’s advantage with a strong header from a corner, rising above Laurent Koscielny, leaving Arsenal’s chances of turning the game around trailing in the mud. Needing a major turn-around, the Gunners made a triple change as they introduced Theo Walcott, Francis Coquelin and Joel Campbell.
Walcott gave Arsenal hopes of a comeback 12 minutes before the finale as he timed his run to perfection to slot into the far corner but the Gunners still needed more, whilst Dinamo continued to look threatening every time they pushed forward.
At the death Ospina was called into action with a brilliant save, which was only damage limitations, after Gabriel Paulista had sloppily given the ball away.
No comments:
Post a Comment