Olivier Grioud sends Arsenal through to the knockout stages; Chelsea top Group G

It was arguably the most important game for Arsenal this season as they had to defeat Greek Champions Olympiakos by a 2 goal margin and given their injury crisis, with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Francis Coquelin missing out, it was a mammoth task for the Gunners to go through to the knockout stages.

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Arsenal took the lead in the 29th minute when Mesut Ozil’s defence-splitting, created out of seemingly nothing, found its way to Aaron Ramsey on the edge of the box and the Welshman crossed it in into the path of Olivier Giroud whose headed effort was initially saved by Roberto, but it deflected back of his head and went in to give the Gunners a crucial lead.

After the break, Arsenal went all guns blazing in order to get the second goal which would see them back into the competition and they got it 5 minutes into in the second half, when Ozil’s long pass towards Joel Campbell was taken down by the Costa Rican in the box and despite being surrounded by several sopposition players, he slipped in a timely ball, after what seemed an eternity, to Giroud who ghosted in the box and slotted it past Roberto with ease.

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In the 67^th minute Nacho Monreal’s attempted low cross was handled by Omar Elabdellaoui inside the box and referee was quick to award a penalty to the visitors. Olivier Giroud stepped up to take the spot-kick and sent the ‘keeper the wrong way to complete his hat-trick and seal his side’s progression into the next round.
In the other fixture in Group F, Bayern Munich capped an almost faultless group stage campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over bottom side Dinamo Zagreb, who failed to muster a single point after their shock opening  win against Arsenal.

Despite a stuttering domestic campaign, Chelsea won Group G in emphatic fashion with an impressive 2-0 victory over Porto. The Blues only needed a point to confirm their pole position and got off to the best start possible when Ivan Marcano scored an own goal in the most unfortunate fashion. In the 12^th minute, Eden Hazard passed the ball to Diego Costa, who muscled past Marcaco and had only Iker Casillas to beat and although legendary shotstopper blocked his countryman’s low shot, the ball bounced back off the backtracking Marcano and the additional referee on the goalline awarded the goal despite Maicon’s attempt to clear the ball away. Oscar threatened on numerous occasions, while Yacine Brahimi was the best player on the pitch for Porto.

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In the 51^st minute, Diego Costa used his strength to lay-off a ball to Hazard after a throw-in and the Belgian slipped in a ball on the right flank to Willian, who had acres of space for himself and the Brazilian rifled in a venomous shot past Casillas to make it 2-0. As Porto pushed men forward to mount an unlikely comeback, the hosts threatened on the counter-attack and Hazard struck the post from a tight angle, before Costa wasted a couple of glorious chances to kill the game off. It was a glimpse of the Chelsea of last season, as Eden Hazard was his nifty best, while Nemanja Matic brought a sense of calm in the middle of the park.

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In the other Group G fixture, Dynamo Kyiv narrowed past the point-less Maccabi Tel Aviv to seal their spot in the final 16, while Porto will play in the Europa League.

Luis Enrique fielded a second-string team at Bayer Leverkusen, having already won Group E but it was the talismanic Messi who opened the scoring in the 20^th minute, before his goal was cancelled out by Javier Hernandez 3 minutes later. Barcelona survived a late onslaught by the Germans, as it ended all square at the BayArena. Roma engaged in a stalemate with rock bottom BATE Borisov and finished second in the group, equal on points with Leverkusen but with a superior head-to-head record.

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Gary Neville’s first manager as Valencia boss ended in disappointment, as his side fell to a 2-0 defeat against Lyon. Valencia will now contest in the Europa League, after Belgian side Gent won 2-1 at home against table toppers Zenit St Petersburg to finish behind the Russians in Group H.

Meanwhile, Garry Monk was sacked as Swansea manager after only one win in eleven Premier League games, as the Swans lie 15^th in the table.

Credits to Swadhrut Sathe for the Chelsea vs Porto report

• About the Author

About Sahil Bhinde

"I eat football, I sleep football, I breathe football! I'm not mad, I'm just passionate," said by one of the legends of the game, Thierry Henry, apt description for Sahil Bhinde. Aside from being a football admirer since a very young age, the 17 year old is pretty fond of British rock bands, Oasis, Beatles, Radiohead to name a few. All opinions are his own.