Arsene Wenger said that Arsenal produced a “perfect performance” in turning Champions League adversity into triumph in their 3-0 win over Olympiakos. “It’s the fourth year I have been here and we have never played in a quarter-final”.
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“It was a wonderful team performance, both offensively and defensively, and I haven’t said that many times about Arsenal this season”, he said. We knew we had to push for the third goal because it’s very risky at 2-0, and we had the ideal game.
“If we get a few of our players back as well then our squad will be even stronger than it is now”.
Arsenal needed to overturn a 3-2 defeat at home to Olympiakos earlier in the season when they faced the Greek champions away in a Group F showdown. We are very close the in dressing room and could see this today. We weren’t thinking about the Europa at the start of the game, we always felt we would go through, we believed we would win the game and stay in this competition. “We needed something special to come back like we did and tonight we needed a complete team perform”.
However, fans and pundits still feel Arsenal need to sign someone better up front, with supporters quick to turn on Giroud when the goals dry up.
“I told you before the game it would be a great escape, and I must say I’m very proud of the team”.
The injury-hit Gunners were boosted by the return of Theo Walcott, who made his first start since suffering a calf injury in late October, but it took them a while to get into the contest in a hostile atmosphere at the Karaiskakis stadium.
Their qualification completed a remarkable turnaround after they lost three of their first four games of the campaign.
We’re heading into Week 16 of the English Premier League and Leicester is still at the top of the table. “Olympiakos was a good test for us and Olivier responded well”.
The draw for the second round of the Champions League takes place on Monday, where Arsenal could face one of Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Wolfsburg or Zenit St. Petersburg.
“We want to go as far as we can”.
It was a ideal performance because he scored a header, one with a good combination thanks to a good pass by Campbell, and also a penalty on top of that.
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Arsenal’s brush with Champions League brinksmanship saw them crash out to a vastly inferior Monaco side last season – this time they embraced the pressure against Olympiakos and ensured a run that has seen the Gunners reach the last 16 every year since 2000 was not broken.
