“It was a very hard game but they were fantastic and if Arsenal can reproduce that form they can take on anybody”.
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Arsene Wenger has praised Olivier Giroud for putting in a proper striker’s performance in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Olympiacos which saw them into the knock-out stages of the Champions League.
“I had a good feeling before the game but after that you never know – you still have to get chances to score – but now it’s done”.
Giroud has notched up a tally of 13 goals this season. He took a few digs from his markers and rolled an ankle in the second half, which needed lengthy treatment.
When asked whether it ranked as one of his best European wins, he replied: “Yes, certainly because we needed a flawless performance to score without conceding”. Thierry Henry has endorsed this view although he has attempted to backtrack from it.
The Gunners progressed from the group stage for the 16th consecutive year, courtesy of Olivier Giroud’s hat-trick, and Cech insists they were confident of earning the required result. With 13 in all competitions so far this time, he is on course for a personal best.
But but there is one newcomer amongst Europe’s powerhouse clubs after Belgian side Gent made it through at the first time of asking to continue their dream debut. He is a top scorer.
“It doesn’t matter who we get, if we all contribute and play like that we did against Olympiakos, we can beat anyone on our day”.
Former Montpellier striker Giroud has come in for criticism from some quarters for his sometimes erratic finishing, which many believe prevents him from being considered in the top pantheon of modern strikers.
Arsenal can now face Andre Villas-Boas’ Zenit St Petersburg, Manchester United’s conquerors Wolfsburg or the Spanish trio of Real Madrid, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid in the next round.
From then on Arsenal looked in complete control, dictating the tempo of the contest and looking the team more likely to breach the opposing defence as they went in search for that decisive second goal. “But for the rest, we will see”.
“In the past when there was a tight game, they’d always crumble.In the last two years, we’ve seen a different Arsenal”.
“We played really well and we had to make sure we were in the game and we found our chances”. We had a good balance.
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“I’m very proud of the team because we needed to be right mentally and tactically and at 2-0 we needed to push for a third because it was unsafe”.
