DAN DIVES TO RESCUE
Welbeck in cheating storm as Arsenal sweep aside Milan
DANNY WELBECK was at the centre of a diving row as Arsenal breezed into the Europa League quarter-finals last night.
The Gunners striker threw himself to the ground under only the slightest of touches from AC Milan’s Ricardo Rodriguez, then converted the subsequent spot-kick.
Hakan Calhanoglu had put the visitors ahead but, in the second half, Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma parried a shot from Granit Xhaka into the opposite corner of his goal. Welbeck then nodded in from close range late on.
IT WAS a night when Arsene Wenger needed his players to stand up and be counted.
As it was, Danny Welbeck may have rescued the Gunners from the brink of disaster by falling over. Sadly, that is the modern way.
The controversial penalty award in the 39th minute stopped Milan in their tracks no sooner had they got their tail up. Slowly they lost their way and a goalkeeping howler gifted Granit Xhaka the second goal before Welbeck added late gloss by nodding in a close range third.
But it could not disguise the fact that was far from a glorious European night from the Gunners, although Wenger will just be happy to be in that Europa League hat and just five games away from a return to the Champions League.
It would be gratifying for Wenger to think the swathes of empty seats which had stared down on him from the upper tiers of the Emirates in recent weeks had been filled by fans returning to the cause.
One wonders, though, if the inflated attendance for last night’s game had been drawn more by the promise of some car-crash viewing.
Surely, after Arsenal had won so surprisingly heroically in the San Siro a week ago, even they could not mess it up? All it called for was some experienced heads.
Eleven minutes in, skipper Laurent Koscielny limped off after getting a knee in the back from a corner and Calum Chambers, currently struggling for form even in his preferred position at right-back, replaced him. What could go wrong?
As it was, for once, to a man Arsenal were trying to turn in a disciplined performance but you just knew it could not last long – 35 minutes, to be precise.
Hector Bellerin tracked his runner, leaving Mesut Ozil to tuck back in to pick up Hakan Calhanoglu. As if that was going to happen. Then, when the Milan playmaker picked up the ball inevitably in space, Chambers backed away instead of closing him down, a mistake beautifully outlined to him by Shkodran Mustafi moments later as David Ospina picked the ball out of his net.
The mood at the Emirates chilled. They may have come here half-expecting something similar, but actually watching it play out in front of their eyes sent a shiver down the collective spine of the fans.
No matter – it was not their loyal support Arsenal would be calling upon to be their 12th man.
It was Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson and his assistant. Ricardo Rodriguez probably did brush against Welbeck as he poked the ball far too firmly over the goal-line but only just. Certainly not enough to knock him to the ground, though.
Down the England striker went, nevertheless, and after a brief word over the earpiece, Eriksson pointed to the spot.
A longer conversation involving half the Milan team ensued, but Welbeck kept his nerve and slotted the ball into
the corner to the relief of the home fans. A spate of further bookings before the break suggested the Italians had become rattled, never more so when the ball clearly struck the raised arm of Chambers in the area and Eriksson signalled for a corner.
Milan’s Suso was booked for simulation on the hour mark –a correct call, as it happened, but a brave one by the Swedish official. Former Blackburn striker Nikola Kalinic directed a clear header straight at Ospina minutes after coming on – either side could have meant a very different finale.
As it was, minutes later Gianluigi Donnarumma somehow allowed Xhaka’s speculative drive from 25 yards slither under him and was no more convincing in preventing Welbeck’s third. It was not pretty, it was not convincing. But it was more than enough.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Ospina; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny (Chambers 11), Monreal; Ramsey, Xhaka; Ozil (Kolasinac 79), Wilshere, Mkhitaryan (Elneny 69); Welbeck.
Booked: Monreal. Goals: Welbeck 39 pen, 86, Xhaka 71.
AC MILAN (4-4-2): Donnarumma; Borini, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez; Suso, Kessie (Locatelli 79), Calhanoglu (Bonaventura 70), Montolivo; Silva, Cutrone (Kalinic 67). Booked: Donnarumma, Romagnoli, Borini, Calhanoglu, Suso. Goal: Calhanoglu 35.
Referee: J Eriksson (Sweden).