Arsenal squanders chance in Champions League

Paris St Germain put themselves in the box seat to enter the Champions League knockout rounds as Group A winners after an Alex Iwobi own goal earned them a point in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Arsenal on Wednesday.

The Gunners had been desperate to finish top of the group to boost their chances of ending their round-of-16 hoodoo by securing an easier opponent.

City are guaranteed to finish second in Group C of the UEFA Youth League behind Barcelona. I have to be careful on the choice of my words.

“My concern is that we were 2-1 up and allowed them to come back at us”, Wenger said.

“I think we deserved a draw to help take top spot”. “There’s no reason to panic”.

He said: “We were resilient, we came back and we’ve done that many times this season”.

Goals from Goncalo Guedes, Nelsinho and Ljubomir Fejsa gave Benfica a 3-0 lead into the interval but a second half comeback from Besiktas with strikes from Cenk Tosun, Ricardo Quaresma from the spot and Vincent Aboubakar nicked a point for Senol Gunes’ side. We wanted to finish first.

Atletico Madrid can not be caught by Bayern Munich at the top.

“Overall, we’ve done the job well”.

“We controlled the game but it wasn’t enough to win”. Because you look at all the groups, and you can not really guess if it’s good or bad.

“But that is part of the game”.

Arsenal scraped a 2-2 with a dubious penalty scored by Olivier Giroud and a spectacular own goal from Marco Verratti.

The results: Group A: Arsenal drew with Paris Saint Germain 2-2; Ludogorets Razgrad drew with FC Basel 0-0.

“I feel for him but we’re in it together. I think it is a good thing”.

But they could not hold their lead and look destined to finish second in their group for a fifth straight season, with Wenger admitting they are unlikely to overhaul PSG, even if they win in Basle next month.

Cavani opened the scoring inside the first minute when the sides met in Paris and then went on to miss a number of chances to put the game to bed.

PSG had the lead after 18 minutes, though, as Cavani slid in to bundle home Blaise Matuidi’s cross from point-blank range.

On 55 minutes, time seemed to stand still as Lucas crashed a curling free-kick against the bar.

Arsenal, laboured as they were, conjured an equaliser out of nowhere on the stroke of half-time. This time Aaron Ramsey’s shot was blocked and an attempted clearance by Marquinhos cannoned back off the shins of team mate Verratti past the helpless Areola.

Lucas Moura guided a header on goal and was deflected in by Alex Iwobi.

“We were a bit passive on the corner, but it’s a 2-2”. A lot of clubs would want to be where we are right now.

“I like getting involved in the play more rather than chasing the ball”. Tottenham [who have failed to qualify] have obviously seen that and we have done well to get to this point. It’s just about how we did that more consistently.

“As a technical player, he is good”.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in action with Celtic’s Emilio Izaguirre. Unused subs: Cech, Gabriel, Monreal, Elneny.