UEFA Champions League round-up: Dortmund snap Arsenal's winning run, Milan hold Barca
The first set of matches on Matchday 3 of the UEFA Champions League saw some marquee clashes, the highlight of them all being Borussia Dortmund’s trip to the Emirates to face an in-form Arsenal side.
There was also the now customary clash between AC Milan and Barcelona at the San Siro. A complete round-up of all the action along with how each of the groups stand at the midway point after last night’s action.
The Group of Death – Group F
Arsenal 1-2 Borussia Dortmund
Lewandowski scored the winner against Arsenal to help his side to all three points
In arguably the biggest match of this year’s competition so far, featuring last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, and the in-form team in England, Arsenal, it was the Germans who emerged victorious to blow the group wide open.
Dortmund fielded a full-strength team with long-term absentees Lukasz Piszczek and Ilkay Gundogan the only ones missing. Robert Lewandowski started up front with the deadly trio of Jakub Blaszczykowski, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus playing behind him.
Arsenal were dealt a blow when Mathieu Flamini was ruled out of the clash with a concussion that he suffered in the game against Norwich at the weekend. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny made up the central defensive pairing and Arsene Wenger opted to play Jack Wilshere on the left in a 3-man attack behind striker Olivier Giroud.
Mkhitaryan opened the scoring for Dortmund in the 16th minute after Aaron Ramsey’s error on the edge of his own box that saw him concede possession to Reus, who found Lewandowski with a neat touch, who in turn teed up Mkhitaryan for the opener. The Armenian international finished coolly from 12 yards out to Wojciech Szczesny’s left.
It was a deserved lead for Dortmund who had dominated possession in the opening quarter and pressed Arsenal high up the pitch to pin them back in their own half.
Arsenal were finding it tough to get into their rhythm due to the German team’s intense pressing. Dortmund though failed to make the most of their advantage as they failed to find the crucial final ball to increase their lead. Arsenal were impressive in fits and starts, but with five minutes remaining in the half found the equalizer.
Aaron Ramsey made up for his earlier error by releasing Bacary Sagna with a beautiful through ball on the right, whose cross was not dealt with adequately by Neven Subotic and it resulted in an easy finish for the in-form Giroud to ensure the teams went in level at half-time.
Wilshere, who was rather ineffective perched on the left, was soon replaced by Santi Cazorla, and the Spaniard’s introduction gave Arsenal some much-needed impetus. He saw an effort graze the top of the bar and was involved in some good play that almost led to goal scoring chances for the Gunners.
Dortmund though, scored with their only shot on target of the second half, when a marauding Kevin Grosskreutz managed to finally put an accurate ball into the box for the on-rushing Lewandowski to finish off a slick counter-attack.
The result was a first defeat for Arsenal this season since their opening day loss in the league to Aston Villa. Dortmund made it back-to-back wins after having lost their opening group match to Napoli.
Olympique Marseille 1-2 Napoli
Napoli’s Duvan Zapata celebrates with teammates after scoring the second goal
Rafa Benitez’s Napoli side picked up a vital 3 points on the road at Marseille to ensure a three-way fight at the top of Group F. Goals in either half from Jose Callejon and Duvan Zapata were enough to get the job done for the Italian side before Andre Ayew scored a late goal for the home side to make the last few minutes interesting. With the win, Benitez’s side are joint top along with Dortmund and Arsenal and in beating Marseille, have all but ensured the French side’s elimination from this year’s competition.
It was a comfortable outing for the Serie A side and they were good value for the win. Barring the final flourish in the last few minutes it was all-Napoli for much of the game.