Arsenal reach the quarters after penalties! by Konstantin Mitov
Well, lovely Arsenal people, I can’t lie, this was not good for my health, but we did it. Back in the round of 8 after 14 years. I remember it like it was yesterday. This was a massive win. If you offered me a 1/4 finals spot in the CL and being top of the PL mid march, before the season started, I would’ve bitten your hand off.
Sure it took penalties and it’s our goal difference that puts us above Liverpool, but just imagine the narrative had we gone out. “Crumbled under the pressure”, “last 16 curse” and so on. No sir! Not on my account.
If there was something to learn from the last 2 games, it’s that the pressure is so high. I fully expected a nervy game. We’ve been mostly surprising people for the last 2 seasons, and I truly believe the underdog role suits us better, but now we’re becoming favourites for most games. And the pressure to win hits different.
You could see it again. We sometimes played like we had wet concrete stuck to our feet. We were slow on the ball, there were miss-hit passes, poor touches, slipping and so on, but there was one player that really dragged us through it.
Martin Odegaard ladies and gentlemen took it upon himself to pick up that ball and create something, and that assist for our goal was pure quality. The finish as well was sublime.
That said I think Trossard didn’t do anything else in the game. You could see how we missed Martinelli. The players are so drilled to just get the ball to the wing but Leo just doesn’t have the pace. I think the Belgian offers more through the middle, where his quality on the ball is better suited, and I must admit I was shamelessly celebrating that goal after cussing hard in the first half that we should’ve played Jesus on the wing instead.
Speaking of the Brazilian; his introduction almost immediately produced a second goal. This game screamed for Jesus. Intricate touches, pace, ability to take players on and also the dark arts. I know he’s been injured and maybe not fully fit, but my god we missed him. In the CL he has been superb for us.
One thing I really enjoyed from our performance was the physicality though. The way that game was refereed reminded me of the early 2000. Players told to get up, rough challenges. You could see how the players expected fouls for some small touches that we’ve become so accustomed to being given, but I will admit, I enjoyed it.
That game was a hair away from a brawl on the pitch. Arteta giving it to their manager was pure gold. In the end they got exactly what they deserved, although I will admit they actually played more football this time, rather than parking the buss. But almost like what their manager said, one team came to both play football and win – and that was Arsenal.
They were playing for penalties since minute 70 and got what they wanted. Than up came David Raya. What a towering performance. When we signed a keeper this summer, I never thought this would be so important. We signed him for the ability with his feet, but his hands ain’t too bad either.
He saved 2 pens, and almost a third which leaves us in such a positive mood, as we won’t play another game until the last day of March, when we go to the Etihad. Raya’s heroics in contrast to Ramsdale’s mistake against Brentford was chalk and cheese!
I enjoyed wiping the floor with teams, being 4-5 up at half time, but these sort of nervy wins, penalties, scraps and brawls tell me more about the character of the team. Winning at all cost. It’s what it takes nowadays to win the major trophies.
We’ll be facing a much better team than Porto in the next round and we’ll have to up our levels for sure, but my god am I so happy to be in the hat for the draw! You should most definitely be too. Enjoy gooners!
Konstantin
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