Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal took a huge step towards the quarterfinals of the Europa League on Thursday, leaving Olympiacos definitive feat, by beating Pedro Martins’s team 1-3 in Piraeus. Odegaard opened the way for his team with his first goal as a ‘gunner’, which made life difficult due to a mistake by Ceballos, who took the opportunity to tie El Arabi. However, Gabriel and Elneny became saviors of the Londoners with two goals. And all this against an Olympiacos that last season eliminated Arsenal in the round of 32 of this same competition.
It was at 34 ‘when Martin Odegaard advanced to the’ Gunners’ with a shot from the edge of the area after receiving a ball from Thomas. Until then, Arsenal’s best chance had been a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang header that hit the wood.
Thanks to the player on loan from Real Madrid, the night was in favor of the ‘gunner’ team, despite the fact that it had not created excessive danger. Odegaard made his debut as a scorer at Arsenal with a shot from 25 meters. Olympiacos goalkeeper Jose Sa could have done more.
Errors of the ‘gunners’ in the exit of the ball
But the truth is that Arsenal made a mistake in several outings and Olympiacos did not miss the third, which tied through El Arabi in the 58th minute. The one who was Granada’s forward shot from the edge of the area. The Greeks had not been able to take advantage of the failures of Odegaard and David Luiz, but they did take advantage of that of Dani Ceballos, in their first action after entering the field.
It was a hard blow for Arsenal, but in 79 ‘Gabriel appeared to rescue Mikel Arteta’s team by scoring with a header after receiving a ball from Willian. That was not all. Egyptian Mohamed Elneny extended the Gunners’ lead in the 85th minute with a great kick from outside the area to round off a 1-3 that tastes of glory for the Gunner team just before Sunday’s derby against Tottenham in the Premier.
It was not a perfect match for Arsenal, but it managed to be decisive in the final stretch of the match. A year ago the Londoners won 1-0 at Olympiacos, but missed the last 16 when the Hellenes beat 1-2 at the Emirates Stadium.
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