Arsenal shocked Olympiakos in Athens

Arsenal did something quite significant, after completing a perfect way the “Mission Impossible” to win with more than one goal difference over the Greek champion Olympiakos and qualified for the phase of direct eliminations in The Champions League. Arsene Wenger was in a very difficult situation, because he could not rely on a big number of his star players as Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshire, Francis Coquelin and many others. However, The Gunners showed a great motivation, played perfectly and eventually won with the classic 3-0 to qualify for the 16th consecutive time for the 1/8 finals of The Champions League. Olivier Giroud was the hero for Arsenal. He scored three goals for The Gunners and overtook by goals in Europe one of the greatest players in the history of Arsenal – Dennis Bergkamp.

Giroud opened the score in the 29th minute of the match after a cross from Aaron Ramsey. He doubled his team’s advance four minutes into the second half. Frenchman scored his hat-trick in the 67th minute from the penalty spot.

The match began with a massive domestic pressure. Even though guests were those who needed goals, Olympiakos played better in the first quarter of the game and created several interesting moments in front of Petr Cech’s goal. The most dangerous situation for the host team was an Ideye’s shot, which went wide.

However, after 24 minutes, The Gunners missed a great clear goal-scoring chance. Arsenal created an excellent combination in the penalty area, but Flamini’s shot reflected off the crossbar. Just five minutes later, The Gunners opened the score. Olivier Giroud finished with a header a good cross of his teammate Aaron Ramsey. Mesut Özil was “the engine” of this attack with an excellent through ball to Ramsey.

After the break the visitors were lucky to reach the second goal very quickly. Its author was again Olivier Giroud, who scored in the 49th minute. The main contribution of his goals had Joel Campbell, who showed a great technique and passed a through ball in the Olympiakos’ box, which found unmarked Giroud, who had no troubles and scored with just one touch 0-2! With this goal Giroud passed one of the legends of Arsenal – Dennis Bergkamp by goals in The Champions League.

In the 67th minute everything collapsed for the hosts, after a defender stopped a cross with a hand in the box and the referee Nicola Rizzoli awarded Arsenal with a penalty kick. Olivier Giroud scored from the penalty spot his third goal in the Roberto’s net and made the task in front of the Greeks impossible.