Live commentary : Arsenal 2-1 CSKA Moscow-Europa League quarter final
Goal!!
Penalty to Arsenal!
Ozil goes down under a tackle by Shennikov!
21 min: Slick interplay between Ozil and Mkhitaryan, followed by a dummy by Bellerin to allow the ball to roll through to Lacazette in the box. But the flag goes up for offside, again incorrectly.
19 min: Wilshere and Xhaka combine well to cut through midfield. Xhaka sends a pass wide to Lacazette on the right. The Frenchman’s cross is put behind for a corner, which is cleared without fuss.
17 min: CSKA are not satisfied: they want more. And if their ambition is based on the belief that Arsenal’s defense is flaky, they’re being vindicated: Musa has just sidestepped Koscielny in the box and found himself one-on-one with Cech from a tight angle. But he miscues shot, blasting low into the side-netting. Those familiar jitters are now audible around the Emirates...
GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 CSKA (Golovin 15)
Golovin curls a sweet 23-yard freekick over the wall and into the top corner! That’s a precious away goal and a fine way to punish Arsenal for sloppy defending.
4 min: CSKA are mounting a spell of pressure. And now they have a great chance to test Cech, as Koscielny makes a clumsy aerial challenge to concede a freekick just outside the D.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 CSKA (Ramsey 9)
Another sweeping move from Arsenal concludes with Ozil slipping the ball wide to Bellerin, who sends over a low cross to Ramsey, who guides a first-time shot into the net from 10 yards.
7 min: Ramsey makes a burst from deep and sidefoots a cross from the right into the net from six yards! But that, too, is ruled out for offside. The replay is less conclusive on this one: he may have been level with the last man.
6 min: Shennikov shanks a cross from the left after being played into a lot of space. That’s another let-off for Arsenal and another warning that CSKA has come in search of any away goal, at least.
5 min: Wernbloom outjumps Koscielny to flick on a long pass to Musa, who is suddenly running clear on goal! But he’s pulled back for offside - the replay shows that was a flawed call and Arsenal are very lucky!
4 min: Monreal scapers down the left to collect a pass from Ramsey. The Spaniard cuts the ball back from the byline to Ozil, who picks out Mkhitaryan near the middle. He has a bang from 10 yards but it flies into the side-netting. Cracking move, though!
2 min: Ozil receives the ball mid-way inside the opposing half. He swivels and immediately looks to release Lacazette. But his threaded pass is cut out by Ignasheveich.
1 min: Arsenal kick off, Lacazette rolling the ball to Ozil. That’s a100% pass completion so far, stats fans.
Here come the teams. Arsenal are wearing their traditional garb, while the visitors are all black, so the officials have plumped for yellow. I can’t see whether the Emirates is full but in terms of sound, the atmosphere is not exactly Anfield On A Big European Night – more like Anfield on an average Premier League afternoon.
Wenger speaks!
“This is an opportunity and we have to make it a great opportunity. It is a little bit tricky when you play the first game at home to find the balance between going forward and defending because of the weight of the away goal.” Asked whether it is a risk to reinstate Lacazette for a first start after a two-month layoff following knee surgery, he says: “It is a little bit. Will he last the whole game? Certainly not. But Danny Welbeck had a back problem so the decision was easy.” Regarding the goalkeeper decision, he explains that Ospina suffered an ankle injury in training yesterday so it is not necessarily the case that Cech has been restored as the permanent No1 for this competition.
TEAMS
No messing about from Wenger with this line-up. He’s even restored Cech in goal (with 23-year-old Matt Macey the back-up on the bench). Koscielny comes back into the side and so does Lacazette in place of the cup-tied Aubameyang. He’ll be up against a defense that has few peers for experience, at least. Other visitors they’ll have to be particularly wary of are Alan Dzagoev, an attacking midfielder who can be slinky on his day; and maybe Ahmed Musa, who may have made a little impact while at Leicester but has enjoyed his best days in CSKA’s colors.
Arsenal:
33 Petr Cech
6 Laurent Koscielny
20 Shkodran Mustafi
18 Nacho Monreal
24 Héctor BellerÃn
10 Jack Wilshere
29 Granit Xhaka
8 Aaron Ramsey
9 Alexandre Lacazette
77 Henrikh Mkhitaryan
11 Mesut Özil
CSKA Moscow:
35 Igor Akinfeev
24 Vasili Berezutski
6 Aleksei Berezutski
4 Sergei Ignashevich
66 Bibras Natcho
17 Aleksandr Golovin
10 Alan Dzagoev
42 Georgi Schennikov
89 Konstantin Kuchaev
3 Pontus Wernbloom
7 Ahmed Musa
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