Arsenal were in for a shock when Ligue1 side Monaco visited the Emirates Stadium. Arsene Wenger’s reunion with his former club turned out to be bitter for the Frenchman as Arsenal lost 3-1. Hakan Calhanoglu scored the solitary goal in Bayer Leverkusen’s win over last year’s finalists Atletico Madrid.
Photo: Matt Dunham/AP
Arsenal began the game in lively fashion, with smart opening exchanges almost handing them the lead and were almost destined to do so when it went all wrong for the hosts. Moutinho passed the ball from the right-side and Geoffrey Kondogbia unleashed a shot into the top-right corner but took a wicked deflection. Ospina was stranded and couldn’t do anything about it. Arsenal made a bright start to the game but then slowed down the pace and they paid for their mistake.
Photo: Eddie Keogh/Reuters
The second-half began again in the home side’s favor when two brilliant runs from Sanchez and Bellerin put Monaco on the back-foot. And then Mertesacker made a fool of himself, trying to intercept a long-ball inside the Monaco half and missed it horribly. Martial pounced over the ball and then slid a pass to Berbatov, who calmly hit the ball into the left-side of the net. Plenty of chances ensued but no goals for Arsenal, were in dire need for at least a couple. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reduced the deficit when he curled in a beauty from 25-yards. Subasic was helpess there and Arsenal may have pulled off a miracle had it not been for Yannick Ferreira Carrasco. Carrasco received a free-kick and curled it into the bottom-right. Ospina handled it well and launched the ball in the sky. Oxlade-Chhamberlain managed to undo all his hard-work when he gifted possession to Bernardo Silva who passed it to Carrasco who whipped a shot across Ospina into the net. Monaco win 3-1 and Arsenal will have to pull off a miracle to proceed into the next round, by overturning a home-deficit, a feat which has been managed only by Ajax and Inter.
Photo: BPI/Rex
The opening minutes at the BayArena were scrappy to say the least with both sides failing to make the crucial final pass. Atletico were wasteful in front of goal and both Greizmann and Mandzukic were denied by Bernd Leno. Bayer’s Spahic almost put his side into the lead when he saw a gap from 30-yards and thundered ball past Moya but onto the crossbar.
Photo: Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images
Atletico created half-chances yet again in the second-half and Bayer made them pay when Hakan Calhanoglu scored out of absolutely nothing. Bayer broke away after an Atletico chance and Bellarabi and Calhanoglu sprinted down the right, with the ball with Bellarabi. After Calhanoglu cut in, Bellarabi back-heeled the ball nonchalantly to Calhanoglu. The Turk took a touch before unleashing a shot from a tight angle past Moya, to score a goal from the heavens. In the 75th minute, Torres and Atletico had a goal disallowed after Torres headed the ball after a scrappy corner, with the referee claiming that the ball had gone out of play when the corner was taken. This proved to be the incorrect decision and a minute later Tiago was sent off for a late tackle on Bellarabi. Atletico will be disappointed but not disheartened after the first-leg, given the fact that the second-leg is in Madrid.
Photo: Dennis Grombkowski/Bongarts/Getty Images
