Champions League - Arsenal through on penalties

Eurosport - Thu, 12 Mar 10:11:00 2009

Arsenal beat Roma after a penalty shoot-out decided their Champions League las-16 tie which ended 1-1 on aggregate at Stadio Olimpico.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Champions League Roma-Arsenal - 0

The Italian side's one-goal deficit was eroded by Juan's ninth-minute header, before the game drifted to penalties, with the Gunners winning 7-6 - the highest-scoring shoot-out in Champions League history.

Arsene Wenger began with Eduardo confined to the bench, and Nicklas Bendtner leading the forward line along, but the visitors saw their 1-0 lead from the first leg at the Emirates wiped out startlingly early.

Roma defender Juan capitalised on some slack marking as both William Gallas and Kolo Toure allowed Francesco Totti's cross to escape them, before the lanky defender slotted past Manuel Almunia from close range.

Rodrigo Taddei was feted by his team-mates in the celebrations for a deft dummy in the lead up to the goal which enabled Juan to find space beyond the diving Gael Clichy.

Gallas had a chance to atone for his error with a free header from close range 10 minutes later, but the angle was tight as the defender stole in at the back post, and Doni gathered relatively comfortably.

Taddei, who was a constant threat, then had two rasping efforts saved by Almunia after cutting in from the right wing, before a third shot was fired in by Mirko Vucinic as the Spanish keeper was kept occupied.

Samir Nasri, who had fleeting moments of inspiration on either wing, picked out Robin van Persie from out on the right, just before half-time, but the Dutchman's header sailed innocuously over the bar after he was left unmarked in the penalty area.

On the stroke of the break, Roma had their clamorous appeals for a penalty rejected by referee Mejuto Gonzalez, as Marco Motta appeared to be clipped by Clichy inside the box: replays suggest that Arsenal could count themselves lucky.

Former Arsenal forward Julio Baptista was introduced in place of Juan, who sustained an injury, and the Brazilian almost doubled Roma's lead on the night in the 81st minute when he slid to meet Motta's cross, but failed to connect cleanly.

Bacary Sagna has a free header inside the box saved by Doni - another good chance for Arsenal which they should have converted.

Theo Walcott was introduced midway through the second half, and the pacey winger immediately proved a nuisance for John Arne Riise - who was already cursing the pace of Sagna down that flank - twisting the Norwegian inside out.

Then on the stroke of full-time, Toure had a point-blank chance to win the tie for Arsenal with a header from close range which drifted agonisingly wide of Doni's near post after Van Persie had flicked the ball on from Nasri's cross.

A superb one-two between Van Persie and Walcott in extra-time almost saw the Englishman get in behind the retreating Max Tonetto, but the Italian muscled him off the ball impressively.

With penalties looming, Arsenal squandered numerous promising positions, as their hosts dropped deeper and deeper into their own half, seemingly content to wait for the impending shoot-out, with Vincenzo Montella brought on for the occasion.

Eduardo was the first man to step up, but his tame effort was comfortably saved by Doni, but the Brazilian was reprieved by Vucinic's miss, before Van Persie, Walcott, Nasri, Denilson, Toure, Sagna and Abou Diaby all then scored for the Gunners, leaving Tonetto to hand them victory.

Dan Quarrell / Eurosport

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  1. Hey Ron. Have you ever watched your team in previous­ tournaments. I agree Liverpool did attack but how many­ times have we seen them do it?? Answer. Never before we­ see them every champs league game sit back, soak up­ pressure and then counter attack. Wait till the next­ round and watch. It will be the same story again.­ Suddenly LFC are the best team on the planet????

    From bowdie, on Thu 12 Mar 6:25PM

  2. look at the big picture four teams entered four teams­ remain that to me says one thing to me who cares about­ any other football we have the best in our own back­ yard

    From douglasallen636, on Thu 12 Mar 6:13PM

  3. i cannot understand the haters.....we don't deserve­ it??who the ... cares? we dont care about you all manu­ and pool and chelsea fans...
    i understand the roma funs­ for being angry.....but the little priiicky manu fans:@­ omfg get out of here pls
    well done arsenal...such a­ great side.
    (i want to remind we put in­ 7penalties...not like C.Ronaldo last year) great work

    From Laszlo, on Thu 12 Mar 4:37PM

  4. let me explain for you guys why all people are saying­ that we r rabbish..first w are not a scoring team­ anymore like b4,w are not playing that amusing ball­ like b4,w are not buying a world class players like­ b4,w are not gaing any cup since 2005,we are keeping­ selling top players(hleb,henry,viera,flamini),we are­ 5th in the league table...i think if any one read the­ above notes..he will know directly about what im­ talking about..75% we are out in the next round..but­ if we face porto or villareal..maybe we could play more­ 2 matches.

    From oussama707, on Thu 12 Mar 3:21PM

  5. congratulations for all the arsenal fans,but there is a­ lot of points to be discussed with mr.wenger..when he­ plays as a stricker bendtner is too slow and­ skill-less,yesterday he was playing as a winger?could­ any one explain this incident to me?van persie was not­ in his form..replace him with the­ fresh,fast,vela...abou diaby did almost nothing in hi­ sposition.where is the strong song?i thinkthe luck was­ on our side yesterday,but anyway,where waiting for­ fabri and roscek,and adybayor,,to come back from there­ injuries

    From oussama707, on Thu 12 Mar 3:11PM

  6. If Arsenal Were No Good,How Then Was It Possible For Us­ To Go And Win In Rome? Against A So Called Big Club.We­ Are The Famous,The Famous ARSENAL.

    From winsdel, on Thu 12 Mar 2:15PM

  7. Lucky lucky Arsenal. Whinger shown again to be out of­ his depth in the CL & tactically inept. Nevermind,­ you lot were invincible 5 years ago. Keep remembering­ that, it'll ease the pain when you're snotted­ in the next round.

    From Loz, on Thu 12 Mar 1:47PM

  8. good strength of character shown - should have scored­ more in the first leg and were a bit lucky with some of­ the decisions last night so it balances out. also with­ some of the more seasoned players getting back into the­ squad could go all the way. barca probably the form­ team but let's see...

    From DAVID S, on Thu 12 Mar 1:38PM

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    From , on Thu 12 Mar 1:34PM

  10. lol check sky sports arsenal aint outsiders ...only­ porto and villareal are ........and why are people­ saying arsenal are gonna get knocked out in the nexrt­ round....they dont make the decision ....were missing­ our best players fabregas who is the heart of the club­ rosicky adebayor eduardo n walcott returing to full­ strentgh our odds would increase alot if all those­ players were fit

    From Julio, on Thu 12 Mar 12:31PM

  11. I am sure Arsene saw the match between Liverpool and­ Real Madrid.That alone should teach the young guns a­ lesson.
    I am a GUNNER for life!! Champions or no­ Champions,I will remain a gunner.There is a room for­ improvement.

    From Bennetha, on Thu 12 Mar 11:26AM

  12. Arsenal for life, not minding those haters of Arsenal. ­ The most important thing is that you have won after­ all! Cheers guys dont let us down. We need to retain­ our good name.

    From nikky o, on Thu 12 Mar 10:42AM
  13. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    ARSENAL play with half team of roma....anyway both­ teams should be in uefa cup.ARSENAL will go out next­ round for sure, but if pay with other outsider­ villareal can have bit chance, the others : manchester,­ bayern, liverpool, porto and barcelona ARE FROM OTHER­ GALAXY!!!

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:18AM
  14. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    ARSENAL play with half team of roma....anyway both­ teams should be in uefa cup.ARSENAL will go out next­ round for sure, but if pay with other outsider­ villareal can have bit chance, the others : manchester,­ bayern, liverpool, porto and barcelona ARE FROM OTHER­ GALAXY!!!

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:16AM
  15. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    ARSENAL play with half team of roma....anyway both­ teams should be in uefa cup.ARSENAL will go out next­ round

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:14AM

  16. From Ron. My message to Arsene Wenger and of the­ Arsenal team is "Sit down and watch the video of­ the Liverpool- Real Madrid game on Tuesday. You will­ see that the reason why Liverpool won so convincingly­ is that they close-marked the R-M men and went in with­ strong challenges the moment they received the ball. ­ The visitors just didn't know how to deal with this­ type of football - it's called the English­ game."
    On the other hand hand the Arsenal boys­ held back and allowed the Italians time to settle and­ find a man in space to whom to pass the ball - very­ dangerous, as we saw.
    To some extent the same applied­ to Man United - Berbatov, for example,wouldn't­ tackle a fly if it got in his way.

    From ronald y, on Thu 12 Mar 10:12AM

  17. I think ARSENAL play bad, and roma too....so no one­ deserve go to 1/4 finals.ARSENAL is just an outsider­ like villareal

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:10AM

  18. I dont think arsenal play good!...but roma is not much­ better!!!!

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:08AM

  19. Boys don't let us down.Be great like the years back­ and let us win this game.

    From Nyasimi, on Thu 12 Mar 10:05AM

  20. WHY invalid??????eurosport uk is censored, like ex­ soviet times....

    From manuel f, on Thu 12 Mar 10:03AM
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