FC Basel have hurt English teams before, knocking out Manchester United in 2011-12, Liverpool in 2014-15 and Tottenham in the Europa League, but Lucas Perez scored two inside the opening 20 minutes, and Arsenal cruised to victory.
Advertisement
This is great for them in terms of getting the confidence and the fringe players doing a job.
Both continued their sensational recent form, with Ozil recording a delightful assist for Iwobi’s goal, and an nearly unplayable Sanchez was involved in all four goals.
Arsenal unexpectedly finished atop Group A, rising above Paris Saint-Germain which drew 2-2 at home to winless Ludogorets Razgrad.
In five of those six years, they came second in their group and were subsequently drawn against a group victor because of the seeding system.
However, Arsenal will avoid their 2015 conquerors Barcelona and last year’s nemesis, Monaco.
This was only Perez’s fifth start since his summer move from Deportivo La Coruna.
There was rejoicing in the red and white side half north London on Tuesday night as Arsenal beat the odds to secure top spot in Group A of their Champions League group – the first time they had achieved such a feat for five years.
Sanchez twice found Gibbs streaking down the left, and the defender fed the Spanish attacker for simple finishes.
If Chile worldwide Sanchez is left out, it could provide an opportunity for Spanish striker Lucas Perez.
And they wrapped up their three points just two minutes after the restart as Gibbs’ heavy pass was missed by Sanchez but collected by Perez, who slotted home to round off his first Arsenal hat-trick.
The Nigerian couldn’t really miss following Mesut Ozil’s fine assist and he was happy for the German to take the plaudits. Perez didn’t disappoint, scoring a scrumptious hat-trick to break the spirits of Basel. “It’s important to finish first because we have the second game at home”. Set to lead the line and Basel’s mission for a goal and win is Marc Janko, who is 6/4 to score his seventh goal of the season with bet365. All positions had already been decided ahead of Tuesday’s final round. Possibly not wanting to tempt fate and end up drawing Bayern Munich or Real Madrid, the Frenchman answered cautiously.
The win, coupled with Paris St Germain only scraping a draw against minnows Ludogorets, means Arsenal advance to the first knockout round as group winners for the first time since 2012.
Napoli won 2-1 in Benfica but both teams qualified for the last 32.
Advertisement
Group D: Bayern Munich 1 Atletico Madrid (Spain) 0 PSV Eindhoven (Holland) 0 FC Rostov (Russia) 0.
