Olympiakos 1 – 3 Arsenal, Arteta delighted to see Arsenal ‘dominate’ the game

March 12, 2021

Arsenal have taken a commanding 3-1 lead in their Europa League last-16 tie with Olympiacos.

Martin Odegaard opened the scoring in Athens with a powerful 20-yard drive.

A mix-up between Bernd Leno and Dani Ceballos allowed Youssef El Arabi stroke home the equaliser after 58 minutes.

But the Gunners took back control of the game when Gabriel produced thumping header from Willian’s cross with ten minutes remaining.

Mohamed Elneny then made it three for the away side by smashing a 25-yard strike off the post and past Jose Sa.

The second leg will be played at the Emirates next Thursday.

Speaking after the game, Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was delighted with the ‘personality’ shown by his side.

“We started the game really well, really dominant and creating a lot of chances,” the Spaniard told BT Sport.

“We gave them a goal trying to play out from the back but then we reacted well to score two more goals. Overall a really positive result but we have to stop making the errors that are costing goals because we cannot sustain that.

“It isn’t about concentration it is about when you play the ball. It is not about stopping the way we play because this is us.

“We were really solid, really dominant. We showed a lot of personality to come here and dominate like we did. The next thing is to do that for 90 minutes and give nothing to the opponent.

“This is half time and anything can happen. Full focus and we start 0-0 again in the second leg and try to win the game.”