Arsenal ‘can take on anybody’ in the Champions League

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on his side’s ideal Champions league victory against Olympiakos, describing it as a “greatest escape”, as they progress through to the knockout stages of the tournament.

“Look at his record, he has special qualities that are hard to find”, Wenger said. “I think I will have to do that again because it is so demanding now and he has a game that demands a lot of energy, that sometimes you need a breather in that squad. It’s a special night for us and will create a positive memory”. Maybe it is a lucky year for us in the Champions League.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for us because we have lost players”.

They will now look ahead to the draw for the last 16 next Monday, when they could be drawn against Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Wolfsburg or Zenit St Petersburg. You’ve seen teams struggle when they should go through and should be winning.

Giroud can have badly off-color days – he endured a personal nightmare in the Champions League last-16, first leg home loss to Monaco last season – and they have not helped his cause. We needed a complete team performance and that’s what it was.

Capable of scoring all types of goals, the 29-year-old has grown to be an important player for the club and his contributions are often vastly underrated by supporters and observers alike.

“Ideally, you would like to not have to be patient, but we might need to be”. We knew we had to push for the third goal because it’s very risky at 2-0, and we had the flawless game.

‘Olivier Giroud was magnificent in Greece, but I still don’t get the feeling he is completely loved by everybody at the club.

Qualification to the last 16 completes a remarkable turnaround for the Gunners as they become just the eighth side to advance through their group having taken three points or fewer from their opening four matches.

Group winners Bayern Munich finished with a 2-0 victory at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to a second-half Robert Lewandowski brace as Thomas Mueller missed a late penalty and coach Pep Guardiola claimed his 100th win in charge.

It was Giroud’s first hat-trick for the club and the French striker was in celebratory mood.

“We always felt we would go through, we believed we would win the game and stay in this competition”.

‘He showed his importance to the team and capped it with great composure to score the penalty. Find us on Facebook too!