Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud (left) celebrates with team-mate Theo Walcott after scoring a hat-trick against Olympiacos during the UEFA Champions League match at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens. When you look at who we’ve lost in the last three weeks, we’ve lost Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez among other long-term injuries. We had the chance to prove to everyone we have the qualities of being a top team in the Champions League.
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When asked whether it ranked as one of his best European wins, he replied: “Yes, certainly because we needed a ideal performance to score without conceding. We had to produce a ideal performance to win and we did just that”. We needed something special to switch it on and come back like we did.
“I’m proud of consistency because it demands a lot of effort every day and I think that’s what it’s about”.
“The kind of performance we produced in a very heated atmosphere was ideal – on the mental front and the tactical side as well”.
“We came back Thursday morning but we have no injury worries after the game”, Wenger said.
“Nine times out of 10 you are out”.
“In the Champions League it’s one level up and we need to be focused as a unit, together, with good cohesion, defending well and we finished well tonight”.
“This is a team, and they showed it again”.
“It is a massive win for us, the club, the supporters and for the future because it will give us confidence”, the Czech added.
Giroud has scored 13 goals in 23 appearances for the club this season and Cech has singled out the Frenchman for praise.
“I have given no advice because we are now competitors and rivals”, Wenger said.
Mathieu Flamini revealed the opponents Arsenal are least looking forward to facing in the Champions League knockout stages are Barcelona, though he is confident of beating the rest.
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Four minutes after the interval, Arsenal had the decisive margin and it owed much to a sensational piece of play from former Olympiakos loanee Campbell, as he reached a lofted pass from Ozil, before beating three defenders with an angled, no-look pass to Giroud. “We made it so hard for ourselves, no-one really gave us any chance of getting through but the attitude in that dressing room was fantastic”. We had the opportunities to score but our goal was at risk. “They didn’t want to go to the Europa League and especially after the last defeat at home, a second successive defeat would have been an attack to their pride”.
