Crisis? What crisis? Revived Arsenal claim superb victory in Milan
Arsene Wenger’s career has been far too long, and far too successful, for a round-of-16 match in Europe’s secondary competition to rank among his greatest nights. And yet the pure satisfaction he will derive from this result, this taming of a buoyant AC Milan side in a packed San Siro, will surely compare to anything else he has experienced in these turbulent recent years.
Given the circumstances, this was a quite extraordinary response from a group of players who had themselves admitted to falling into a “negative spiral” following four consecutive defeats. Their season was finished, they had been told, with their hopes of Champions League qualification extinguished in the Premier League by a 13-point gap to fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal were on the ropes, as Wenger admitted afterwards.
“It’s like a boxing match,” he said. “You are half knocked down and have to face another opponent before you get up again.”
This meeting with Milan, their final hope of salvaging this sorry campaign, looked to be a mountain too steep. Gennaro Gattuso’s side had not lost since before Christmas. They had not conceded a goal in their past six matches.
To extend Wenger’s analogy, Arsenal were waiting a knockout blow and it fell to Gattuso, never one to shy away from a fight, to deliver one final punch this season, and surely for Wenger’s reign.
Instead, Henrikh Mkhitaryan showed why his manager thought he was a worthy replacement for Alexis Sanchez, and Mesut Ozil demonstrated why he merits wages of £350,000 a week. Mkhitaryan scored one, Ozil created two, and a defence that had been so shattered by Brighton last weekend was suddenly controlling a resurgent Milan. By the time Aaron Ramsey strolled through to net the second goal, leaving goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma flailing helplessly, Arsenal could have had three or four.
“In one week you do not become a bad team or a bad player,” Wenger said. “Nothing is permanent in life.”
The job is not done – if any side is capable of shipping three goals in the second leg, it is Arsenal – but this was far more than they could have hoped for. Not least Wenger, whose stubborn belief that he remains the best man for the job will only have been fuelled by a showing that no one saw coming.
“Overall, at some stage you need to respond together with a good performance,” he said. “That is what we did. We have won a game, we are not qualified. The result will lift the belief in the team a little bit.”
For the home side, who had not conceded a goal in 539 minutes before Mkhitaryan’s effort, this was a night to rue their own sloppiness. A speculative shot from Suso that bobbled out for a throw-in seemed to encapsulate their night.
“We committed a lot of mistakes,” Gattuso said. “I probably made some mistakes in not making myself understood. We suffered.”
But they started well. Milan forced two corners in the opening 90 seconds, and Giacomo Bonaventura almost had a tap-in at the back post. “We got away with it,” Wenger said.
At this stage, it looked as if these stuttering Arsenal players were tumbling deeper into the “negative spiral” that Laurent Koscielny had discussed ahead of the match. But Milan’s midfield appeared to have been infected by a confidence crisis of their own.
After 14 minutes, Ozil floated one of those languid passes into the path of Mkhitaryan, who chopped back inside before his shot cannoned off Leonardo Bonucci and past Donnarumma for his first goal in an Arsenal shirt.
From there, both sides were sloppy in possession. These may have been teams with Champions League pedigree, but for large parts there was no mistaking the fact that this was Europa League football. Still, Arsenal pushed for a second and Danny Welbeck was thwarted by Donnarumma.
Fortunately for Arsenal, Ramsey more than made up for Welbeck’s lack of composure in stoppage time of the first half. Again it was Ozil with the pass, and Ramsey was left all alone as he sent Donnarumma sprawling before tapping in.
Having flourished going forward in the first half, Arsenal were able to solidify after the break. But Milan will no doubt come again next week, and Arsenal may collapse. What is for certain, though, is that Wenger has arrested the slide for now at least.