Monaco silence the Gunners
Arsenal’s woeful performance punished but Atletico Madrid are let off the hook
AS MONACO gave Arsenal a lesson in patient, counter-attacking football to win their Champions League last 16 first leg-match 3-1 in London on Wednesday, heaping more European agony on Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal boss Wenger, a former manager at Monaco, is now facing elimination at this stage of the competition for the fifth straight season after the shattering home defeat.
French midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia put the visitors ahead after 38 minutes, when he crashed in a long range shot that took a deflection off Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker, leaving goalkeeper David Ospina helpless.
Bulgarian veteran Dimitar Berbatov added the second after 53 minutes after a devastating Monaco counter-attack.
Arsenal pulled one back in stoppage time when substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain curled home from the edge of the area, but Monaco scored even later to restore their twogoal advantage when substitute Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco scored with a shot that went in off the post.
Arsenal wasted several chances with Olivier Giroud spurning four scoring opportunities to leave Arsenal with a mountain to climb when Wenger takes his side back to the principality for the second leg on March 17.
Giroud went close with a header during Arsenal’s opening dominant spell, and then wasted three chances after the break before being substituted, but Monaco weathered the early storm.
The visitors gradually played their way into the match with winger Anthony Martial and Joao Moutinho looking particularly dangerous, but it was still a surprise when they took the lead through Kondogbia’s longrange effort.
There was no real surprise, however, when they doubled their advantage as they were playing the better football when Berbatov’s powerful finish ended a swift break.
The hosts were given a lifeline in the first minute of stoppage time when Oxlade-Chamberlain pounced on a clearing header before curling home, but their celebrations were shortlived as Ferreira-Carrasco finished emphatically.
In the other match on Wednesday, Bayer Leverkusen let Atletico Madrid off the hook by failing to secure a bigger advantage than their 1-0 win, said the Spanish side’s coach Diego Simeone.
After falling behind to Hakan Calhanoglu’s 57th-minute strike, Atletico then had to play the final quarter of an hour at the BayArena with 10 men after midfielder Tiago picked up a second yellow card.
“Another opponent, at another time, with us having one player fewer, would have clinched the tie,” added the Argentine. “They did not clinch it and it could give us a chance.”
Simeone, who led the Spanish champions to the final of Europe’s elite club competition last season, will have to reshuffle his team for Leverkusen’s visit to the Calderon as centre back Diego Godin is suspended along with Tiago.
Simeone, whose side play at fifth-placed Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday, said he was confident that his squad had enough depth to cope with the suspensions and mounting injuries.
“The absences will be covered by players who have been training, preparing and who are part of a competitive squad.”