Arsenal have qualified for the last-eight of the Europa League with a 3-2 aggregate win over Olympiacos.
The Gunners had clinched a 3-1 win in Greece last week to give themselves the ideal chance to reach the next round of the competition, but they made a meal of it tonight.
We were the better side in the opening half, but thanks to Nicolas Pepe and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failing to convert their clear-cut chances, we went into the break at 0-0.
For some reason, our players’ heads were clearly not focussed after the restart, and the Greek giants came out to dominate.
It didn’t take long before a trademark mistake in possession allowed Olympiacos to run at our defence, and Al-Arabi grabbed himself a second goal of the 180-minute tie to give his side some hope.
It took a little while but our side eventually began to compose themselves better in possession, and the better chances went our way.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was put through in on goal, but he failed to beat the keeper one-on-one and eventually saw his effort go wide of the far post.
That man Aubameyang nearly scored shortly after when the ball was whipped in hard and low, and he tries to backheel his effort on goal, but the goalkeeper was equal to his effort once again.
Our task looked assured when Olympiacos were reduced to 10-men thanks to two yellow cards for Ousseynou Ba, who was initially booked for a foul before smashing the ball at the referee in frustration.
Arsenal will now look forward to the draw tomorrow when they will find out their fate for the next round, While Spurs have been taken to extra-time in Zagreb after losing 2-0…
Patrick