Arsenal 3 Milan 0
Koscielny 6 Rosicky 26, Van Persie 42 (pen)
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Arsenal won but they lost.
This handsome 3-0 victory didn’t take Milan into extra time.
A weird tie of two legs, really.
Milan didn’t turn up at the Emirates, just like Arsenal didn’t turn up in the San Siro, where they were beaten 4-0 on February 15.
So what’s new?
Italians teams don’t travel, or very rarely. We know that but we often forget it.
But : Juventus provided a helluva battle before Arsenal beat them 3-1. That was a great football match and a tremendous victory.
Last night the wide men, Gervinho and Walcott, weren’t up to it.
Arsenal scored three goals in the first half and were excellent for an hour, then faded. Ran out of steam.
Milan had chances but bottled them : Zlatan, El Sharaawy, Nocerino. When the pressure was on, they looked timid and flaky.
Arsenal defended very well.
The back five were magnificent.
Alex Oxstar-Chamberlain, playing in midfield with Rosicky and Song, justified my recent claim that he’s the finest winger England have produced since Darren Anderton.
Balanced, two-footed and bold as a lion, Oxlade demonstrated composure and a rare range of skills. He can dribble, pass, shoot, win the ball, win free-kicks and penalties.
But Arsenal will always have two-thirds of a team because Wenger perseveres with losers. For the last seven years he has never given himself the tools to do the job.
WENGER HAS 70 FOOTBALLERS BUT NO BENCH.
He brought on Chamakh and then he brought on Park!
Chamakh and Park !
The manager brought on Chamakh and Park to give you hope!
And you ask : Why couldn’t we score another goal? Arsenal didn’t score an away goal and now they had nobody on the bench who could help, add momentum, penetrate, nick an goal.
Same old, same old story.
Nearly there but not quite. Heroic failure? Maybe. A glorious future for this spirited,injury-damaged team? It’s possible…
If Podolski comes, Van Persie might go.
But I don’t think he will go. I don’t think Robin wants to go. He loves being the main man. I’ve said that for a long time and I’m more convinced of it than ever.
Would Kroenke love to flog RVP for £25 million? You betcha.
Sky pundit Ruud Gullit: “For me, Milan played like spoiled kids.”
On Oxlade, Graeme Souness said, “I think he’s a Wayne Rooney – he could play anywhere.”
Allegri must have been shocked by the way his team played.
Bottom line?
As I wrote here before the first leg, this R16 tie is irrelevant because neither Arsenal nor AC Milan are good enough to win the Champions League.
If you think about it, Arsenal didn’t pepper the goal. They didn’t do too much between the goals, just scored one every 20 minutes, then that pointblank wonder-save by Abbiati denied Robin.
Newcastle will be a better test of what Arsenal can do.
Would love to sit here and write 4,000 words,describe the goals, but I gotta work this morning & go out this afternoon.