Highly opportunistic Arsenal finds itself in good shape today in Champions League, having held fast against 60 minutes of pressure Wednesday in Germany to turn the game on Aaron Ramsey’s latest big moment for the club.
Ramsey’s 61st-minute header on his team’s first real attempt at the Westfalenstadion changed the game and supplied his team an enormous three road points, along with a famous win, in a highly entertaining match, a 1-0 result for Arsenal at Dortmund.
No English team had ever won inside’s Dortmund’s notoriously noisy ground.
Arsenal took a measure of control implausibly after the goal, another sign of things going so right this year for Arsene Wenger’s side. Mesut Ozil, drifting right to find the spaces after intermission, controlled his team’s movements forward, while Per Mertersacker commanded the aerial spaces along his Gunners’ back lone.
The goal seemed a terribly unlikely moment from Arsenal’s Ramsey, barging forward in his 200th club appearance and overturning an hour of dominance in the Group F encounter, one that leaves Wenger’s club tied at the top of the foursome.
An uncharacteristic sloppy touch near the back from Dortmund put the ball on Ozil’s foot. Olivier Giroud met his teammate’s cross, leaving a ball dangling for Ramsey to head bravely on the run near goal. It was his 25th strike overall for the Gunners, who are also off to their best Premier League start in years.
The game was alive with great chances on either side after the goal with Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski scruffing one just wide from point-blank positioning, and Ramsey seeing his next shot from in close pushed wide. Dortmund also cleared one off the line, and soon after that Mertersacker was just high with a long header. Dortmund, however, could not find goal, failing to score for just the second time in its last 61 appearances at the formidable ground in working class Dortmund.
Unlike Manchester United on Tuesday, Wenger did not let this weekend’s coming Premier League clash at Old Trafford overly influence his selections. Other than England midfielder Jack Wilshere, out due to an ankle issue, Wenger’s side was full of his top choices, including recent revelatory addition Ozil, who was tucked in behind Giroud in the Gunners’ 4-2-3-1.
With an extra day of rest (Dortmund played its Bundesliga match last Friday, Arsenal delivering its Premier League goods on Saturday), Jurgen Klopp also went with an unchanged lineup from the weekend.
Real chances through the first half hour were scarce, although both teams seemed intent on supplying numbers in the attack. It was good pressure applied high around the field from both teams that kept the game at a stalemate, although a sharp and fast-paced one.
Dortmund had the better half-chances early as Neven Subotic and Jakub Blaszczykowski couldn’t quite get their contested volleys from in close on target.
Finally, a breakout in the 37th minute as Henrikh Mkhitaryan found space to run and shoot, only to go just wide. That opportunity emerged from the right, where outside back Kevin Grosskreutz was a handful for Arsenal, emerging frequently from out of the defense.
Dortmund’s advantage intensified after the break, with Wojciech Szczesny’s first big save arriving off a sharp Marco Reus header. In the 52nd minute Arsenal’s Polish goalkeeper was even better with a fine one-handed save off Blaszcykowski close-range blast.
The home team continued pressing while Arsenal seemed increasingly content with the road draw before Ramsey’s stunning, game-changing moment.
LINEUPS
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Grosskreutz, Papastathopoulos, Subotic, Schmelzer, Sahin, Bender, Blaszczykowski, Mkhitaryan, Reus, Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Langerak, Kehl, Hofmann, Aubameyang, Kirch, Schieber, Durm.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Ramsey, Arteta, Cazorla, Ozil, Rosicky, Giroud.
Substitutes: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Monreal, Bendtner, Jenkinson, Gnabry, Hayden.