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. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    roma lucky when leave emirate by 1-0?? the only home­ goal is through penalty hahaha

    wat about this??

    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

    roma should get the­ penalty and the game will chg. the truth is roma lose­ with pride and arsenal goin thru with total pure LUCK­

    adios

    From eLfaRd, on Thu 12 Mar 12:45AM

  2. You need a bit of luck to win things, remember Man Utd­ when they won the treble? Arsenal should have knocked­ them out of the FA cup and Bayern Munich dominated the­ champions League final for more than 80 minutes but­ lost, but all people say is how brilliant Utd were, so­ come on Arsenal believe this is your year and it will­ happen!

    From youngyjue, on Thu 12 Mar 12:39AM

  3. dercute, the English League is not the best because­ simply there is no suspense in it. Year in year out it­ is the same usual suspects with the execpect hick-ups.­ Even Villa the "surprise" is slowly getting­ to where it has been. The EPL however has most of the­ best players in the world. all this explains why other­ teams like Spain take advantage from the fact its­ players are playing alongside or against the best int­ he world week in week out while the English team is­ paying the price for that..

    From Half A Brain, on Thu 12 Mar 12:39AM
  4. Comment hidden due to it's low rating. Show

    LOL... I just read this news on some tall interesting­ place called: ___T allmingle Co M____ the most popular­ place for h ot mo dels, handsome men me et and mi ngle!­ u might be surprise what u end up with!!LOL :-)

    From tracymmkiss, on Thu 12 Mar 12:38AM

  5. yeah,but with hardly any ENGLISH players,lol,lol

    From STEWART, on Thu 12 Mar 12:36AM

  6. I must express my profound gratitude to Arsene wenger­ and the players! though it was a very­ difficult,frightful and tensed game we still came out­ victorious, only God knows am very Happy! Pray we put­ in our best in the next game and u c God will see us­ through? GUNNERZ TILL I DIE!!

    From FRANCIS, on Thu 12 Mar 12:34AM

  7. I must express my profound gratitude to Arsene wenger­ and the players! though it was a very­ difficult,frightful and tensed game we still came out­ victorious, only God knows am very Happy! Pray we put­ in our best in the next game and u c God will see us­ through? GUNNERZ TILL I DIE!!

    From FRANCIS, on Thu 12 Mar 12:32AM

  8. I must express my profound gratitude to Arsene wenger­ and the players! though it was a very­ difficult,frightful and tensed game we still came out­ victorious, only God knows am very Happy! Pray we put­ in our best in the next game and u c God will see us­ through? GUNNERZ TILL I DIE!!

    From FRANCIS, on Thu 12 Mar 12:32AM

  9. i suppose Roma were lucky enough to leave emirates­ 1-0,it could have been worse ,gunner 4 life,in wenger­ we trust,we didnt play good but we are through­ that's all what it matters

    From sabas, on Thu 12 Mar 12:32AM

  10. I must express my profound gratitude to Arsene wenger­ and the players! though it was a very­ difficult,frightful and tensed game we still came out­ victorious, only God knows am very Happy! Pray we put­ in our best in the next game and u c God will see us­ through? GUNNERZ TILL I DIE!!

    From FRANCIS, on Thu 12 Mar 12:31AM

  11. watever

    From eLfaRd, on Thu 12 Mar 12:29AM

  12. I must express my profound gratitude to Arsene wenger­ and the players! though it was a very­ frightful,difficult and tensed match we still won at­ last! God knows inside me am very very happy! Lets us­ put in our best in the next game and i pray God will­ see us through! GUNNERZ TILL I DIE!!

    From FRANCIS, on Thu 12 Mar 12:26AM

  13. On the positive side Arsenal could have Fabregas,­ Adebayor and maybe even Rosicky (remember him?) back­ for the quarter finals. Come on you Gunners.

    From David, on Thu 12 Mar 12:17AM

  14. #56 no one is talking abt who is english from who is­ italian its just reality that the english league is the­ best then the spanish league italy a distance 3rd

    From dercute, on Thu 12 Mar 12:16AM

  15. last gasp gunners.....not very convincing at­ all...grasp your good fortune and enjoy for the end of­ an arsenal era is lingering....didn't thierry do­ well tonight?

    From stuartxland, on Wed 11 Mar 11:55PM

  16. lol to all the people on their high horse about how­ great english football is... see the stats, only 30% of­ players in the top flight of english football are­ actually english.. compare that to the 70% of italians­ in italy.

    Then move on and compare international­ successes.... its a joke.

    From Karl, on Wed 11 Mar 11:49PM

  17. i would have liked to have seen that Arsenal­ performance against Man United, Liverpool, Barcelona or­ Chelsea... perhaps the outcome would have been a­ different story
    does anyone think Porto could be the­ dark horses of the CL yet again?

    From kieran_edmondo, on Wed 11 Mar 11:46PM

  18. Elfard is probably a yiddo who arnt even in EUROPE­ unless playing on a Thursday night counts !

    From WILLIAM, on Wed 11 Mar 11:46PM

  19. ok english teams may be the best but its not english­ football its pounds football lol when italians had­ money in the 90's they were better especially early­ 90's..and they didnt have so many foreigners back­ then as i recall the Baggio era where they dominated­ Uefa....

    From F2R, on Wed 11 Mar 11:45PM

  20. Arsenal are the only team with away second leg to come­ thru. Bravo Gunners

    From tom h, on Wed 11 Mar 11:44PM
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