#Arsenal finally had the luck of the draw and avoided the usual teams that have so convincingly knocked them out of the #ChampionsLeague in the past – you know, #Bayern #Barcelona et al in getting an ‘easy’ opponent in a post #Falcao post #James #Monaco and then go and showcase their soft underbelly and their lack of top quality striking options by losing 1-3 to the tiny French Principality at home at the #Emirates stadium. 3 away goals will make the return leg in Monaco very very difficult to overturn. It’s not like the Gunners didn’t have chances – they had some goal-mouth tap ins that neither #Giroud (he had 2 he should have scored with his eyes closed) nor #Welbeck could tap in. The final nail in the coffin came in the last minute of injury time when the keeper should have done a lot better with the angled shot on goal by #Ferreira-Carrasco that went in. Knowing #Wenger, he’ll try and solve this problem Arsenal have in front and at the back with another midfielder.
Over in #Leverkusen the Germans took a slender 1-0 home lead against 10-man #AtleticoMadrid in a tie that remains wide open when the two return to Madrid in 2 weeks, a stadium that tends to be a fortress for #Simeone’s men.