Nobody gave Arsenal a hope of winning at inform AC Milan last night after losing four games in a row in England, while the Italians were unbeaten since Christmas. But the Gunners surprised everyone and looked by far the better team. They played excellent football and fully deserved to come away from the San Siro with a two goal advantage to take back to the Emirates.
Arsene Wenger was understandably happy that his team responded brilliantly and got the win we needed. “Yes, and what we wanted especially. At some stage, you need to respond and respond together with a good performance. That’s what we did tonight.
“We have won again but we have not qualified. The result will lift the belief in the team again. When you lose three games in six days, it’s always very difficult. We want to keep our focus and finish the job next week. That’s what the target is.
he was then asked if he feels the tie is now over, but he was cautious to not be too overconfident ahead of the second leg. “No, not at all. I just said that we won the game, we are not qualified. We understand that and we have to finish the job at home. Overall, nothing is [finished] at the moment.
“In England, we have a strange system where we have a League Cup final in the middle of the season. We played a cup final in the middle of the season on the Sunday, and then played against the same opponent on Thursday. It’s like a boxing match where you’re half knocked down and you have to face another opponent before you get up again. It’s difficult to recover from a defeat in a cup final when you put so much effort in. You’re always in danger. That’s what happened to us because we had no time to recover, no breather. We had our backs to the wall tonight and we had to respond. That’s what we have shown. We needed to find the mental resources and not just accept it.”
It seems Wenger had his excuse prepared in case we lost and used it anyway even though we won! But every Arsenal fan should be very happy that we still have a chance to bring home a trophy this season.
Sam P