UEFA Champions League FT Report: Arsenal win 3-1 against Partizan Belgrade in Serbia
Arsene Wenger’s young team registered their first away win Europe in almost a year after beating Partizan Belgrade 3-1 in Serbia.
There was drama in Serbia even before the match kicked off. A massive power failure at the stadium forced Arsenal to change in the dark. The Gunners received an intimidating welcome from the crowd and had to face a strong start
from the home side. Wenger had made six changes to the team that played and lost in the Premier League at home against West Brom on the weekend.
Arsenal, after riding the early storm, did well to get the lead in the 15th minute; the Russian striker Andrey Arshavin was the man to break the deadlock.
The Gunners did get into their groove after the first goal and a number of chances followed - but the visitors wasted all of them and could not double the lead. The missed opportunities looked to have cost them when the home side
drew level. Brazil-born striker Cleo got a golden chance from the penalty spot and made no mistake. Arsenal’s defender Denilson was the culprit on that occasion, handling the ball inside the box.
Partizan had grown in confidence after the goal and started coming hard at Arsenal. However in the 2nd half their bubble of enthusiasm had its air sucked out when Marko Jovanovic was given a straight red following a
rash tackle on Marouane Chamakh in the 55th minute. Arshavin stepped up to take the resulting penalty but could not convert. Later Chamakh and Sebastien Squillaci got a goal each to make it 3-1 and complete a comfortable win for the Gunners. In
middle of all that, Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski also saved a penalty and gave heart to the manager who has watched his goal keepers commit blunder after blunder.
At the start of the match as soon as the power was restored there was a huge cheer from the home crowd. The Serbian crowd has a history of violence and of being one of the most intimidating crowds that foreign teams can experience
anywhere in Europe. Wenger though insisted that his young boys would have no extra pressure and would be able to handle it all.
Arsenal were dressed in their yellow away kit. The Home fans were screaming loudly in the early minutes calling for a penalty when Pierre Boya went down after some contact with Johan Djourou. The German referee, Wolfgang Stark,
though did not think much of it.
The noisy stands were stunned into silence when Arshavin snatched the first goal. Jack Wilshire was the man who made the run from midfield and danced straight into the home side’s defence. While most of the defence was focused
on his run, he did well to calmly back-heel the ball to Arshavin and the Russian made no mistake in slotting the ball into far corner.
Arshavin soon had a great chance of getting a 2nd when he was clear on goal, Partizan goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic though acted quickly and charged him down before he could take a shot. For Partizan’s goal, Denilson
was irresponsible when he needlessly handled the ball at the goalmouth with no opposition player close to him.
Cleo had little trouble with the penalty and sent Fabianski the wrong way to level the scores.
The 2nd half saw Arsenal miss a great chance of making it two when Alex Song had made a run into the box and laid if off to Rosicky but the Czech star could not slide the ball past the keeper.
The home side were then cut down to 10 mean when Jovanovic was the last man before the keeper and challenged Chamakh. Arshavin took the penalty but smashed it straight to the keeper, leaving the score tied at 1-1.
With 20 minutes left in the game, Arsenal finally made it 2-1. Rosicky chipped in a ball from the flank and Chamakh timed his run well to head it home. Stojkovic did touch it on the way but it bounced back off the bar and Chamak
was at hand to have a 2nd bite at the cherry and made no mistake. For the third, Samir Nasri, who came on as a substitute, curled in a perfect corner with just 8 minutes to go. Squillaci got on the end of it and headed it in to seal the match.
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