FROM SIROS TO HEROES
Gunners hit back to help save Arsene
UNDER-PRESSURE Arsene Wenger came out fighting after a stunning Europa League win.
Crucial away goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Aaron Ramsey made the Gunners red-hot favourites to reach the quarter-finals.
Arsenal boss Wenger said: “It’s like a boxing match when you are half knocked down and you have to face another opponent before you got up again.”
The Frenchman has been fighting to save his job after being outclassed twice last week by Man City then stunned in a massive upset at Brighton.
But Wenger insisted the quick games in succession had left his side with no time to recover from their Carabao Cup and Premier League maulings.
He added: “In England we have a strange system. We have a League Cup Final in the middle of a season.
“We played on Sunday and against the same opponents on Thursday. It’s difficult to recover from a defeat in a cup final when you put so much effort in. So you are always in danger.
“We had no breather, no time to recover. So we were backs to the wall and had to respond.
“That’s we did. We needed to find mental resources and just because we are disappointed we cannot accept to lose the game.”
Wenger insisted he was proud of his heroes for refusing to buckle in the face of Milan’s 13-match unbeaten record under Rino Gattuso.
He added: “You want to show we have the mental resources and qualities. We lost the cup final against a team that is dominating English football and we have to accept that. That does not mean the team has no spirit. You have to show that until the end of the season.”
This was supposed to be Wenger’s last stand. His players had supposedly downed tools on him. Yet every time the game looks up for Wenger he pulls out a monster result.
The travelling fans voiced their delight but pointedly did not voice their support for Wenger. He will not care. His dream of Europa League success, the back door into next season’s Champions League that will make it harder to sack him, remains alive.
Milan were not poor, they simply gave Arsenal too much respect. Too often they stood off and Mesut Ozil, Ramsey and Mkhitaryan needed no second invitation.
After 14 minutes Ozil played a superb first-time ball to free Mkhitaryan and the Armenian hammered in a deflected effort that gave Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma no chance.
Four minutes into first-half stoppage time Ramsey got a precious second goal.
Ozil sliced through Milan’s defence, freeing the Wales midfielder who had so much space he could have applied for planning permission. He rounded Donnarumma to tap in.
Milan boss Gattuso said: “We made too many mistakes. We never played as a compact team and they deserved the win.
“Every time they attacked they could have scored. Playing at this level is new for us but we’ll go to London to try to win.”