Arsenal´ Spanish footballer Cesc Fabregastakes in action in CL against Dynamo
A goal three minutes from time at the Emirates put Arsenal into the knock-out stage of the Champions League for the sixth successive season and lifted some of the negativity that had surrounded the Gunners in recent days…
The new Arsenal era under the leadership of 21-year-old Cesc Fabregas got underway at the Emirates against Dynamo Kiev with as much focus on the man he succeeded, William Gallas, as on the Catalan playmaker himself.
Manager Arsene Wenger, unable to call on eight injured first-teamers, selected a starting XI team that included youngsters Aaron Ramsey, Carlos Vela and Johan Djourou – and with a bench populated by five teenagers.
After three defeats in four matches, the storm of controversy generated by William Gallas’s rant against his team-mates and the France defender’s subsequent replacement as captain by Cesc Fabregas, Wenger was more concerned with the positive effect on the team’s morale.
Arsenal were playing some neat football, but lacking a cutting edge, and Dynamo were organised and very solid in defence, showing why they have conceded relatively few goals in this European campaign. The Gunners were missing Emmanuel Adebayor’s forward runs and leadership of the line, and the counter-attacking wing speed and trickery of Theo Walcott, with Denilson peripheral on the flank.
On the stroke of half-time Gallas flicked the ball into the net from a corner but the Kiev defence had moved out en masse and the ex-captain was left in an offside position, as the linesman’s flag confirmed.
Shortly after the start of the second-half, Fabregas took a free-kick from wide on the left and the ball broke to Van Persie who fired at goal, but the ball struck the hapless Gallas, who effectively but unwittingly blocked it just in front of the line.
Dynamo were playing at a higher tempo, with Aliev more influential. He fired at goal and Almunia had to smother it with Bangoura ready to snap up any loose ball.
In response, Wenger made his first change after 69 minutes, sending on the pink-booted Nicklas Bendtner for Ramsey.
When the ill-at-ease Song brought down Artem Milevskiy, Wenger used the moment to send on Jack Wilshere for Vela, and so make Wilshere the youngest Arsenal player to appear in senior European competition. From the resulting free-kick, Milevskiy had a chance to score but was superbly thwarted by the alert Almunia, who saved at point-blank range to give Arsenal a mighty reprieve.
And almost immediately after that, the Gunners scored the decisive goal.
After the referee stopped play so that Djourou could receive treatment, he restarted it with a dropped ball. Fabregas won it, and as Kiev players backed off, he hit a sublime long pass into the path of Bendtner, who chested it down, took it forward and shot low into the net between Bogush and his near post. The Kiev players were angry about the goal, but basically they lost concentration, fatally as it happened.
As Wenger celebrated the goal, he saw not only a chance for Arsenal to extend their European campaign, but a cathartic moment for his players. “It is the first step for us. What the team needs is reassurance and at least we have that now,” he said. “We left it late and we were more steady than spectacular, but it was important to come back and win. Nicklas scored a great goal. It was not handball as Kiev claimed. You can watch it on the replay. It was a fantastic ball from Fabregas, good composure and a good finish. I am very happy for him because I felt he had showed a lack of confidence recently.”
“We were more or less equal with Arsenal and we played well but the result is what counts,” Dynamo coach Yuri Semin said.
LINE-UPS:
Arsenal: Almunia, Djourou, Gallas, Silvestre, Clichy, Denilson, Fabregas, Song Billong, Ramsey, Vela, Van Persie.
Subs: Fabianski, Wilshere, Bendtner, Gibbs, Hoyte, Merida, Simpson.
Dynamo Kiev: Bogush, Betao, Diakhate, Asatiani, El Kaddouri, Eremenko, Vukojevic, Ghioane, Aliev, Milevskiy, Bangoura.
Subs: Shovkovskiy, Dopilka, Sablic, Correa, Shatskikh, Cernat, Yarmolenko.
Goals and Highlights in Arsenal Vs Dynamo Kiev:
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