Giroud Hat-Trick Seals 3-0 Win For Gunners

Arsene Wenger has praised Olivier Giroud for putting in a proper striker’s performance in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Olympiacos which saw them into the knock-out stages of the Champions League.

“Overall if you look at the numbers since the start of the Champions League group stage, we have played with 10 men in Zagreb, we scored an own goal at home to Olympiacos, every single game we were a bit unlucky but if we get through we will be unsafe that is for sure”. “I’m very proud of the team because we needed to be right mentally and tactically and at 2-0 we needed to push for a third because it was unsafe”. Going in one goal to the good at the break was a fine start, with just one more needed to see Arsenal over the line. “It’s disappointing. Obviously we wanted to win the game, but we have no complaints”, said Neville.

The manager stressed that the results had made them stronger and strengthened their belief, adding that they were looking forward to the upcoming matches.

“Ideally, you would like to not have to be patient but we might need to be”.

Moreover, the win preserved Arsenal’s superb record in the Champions League, having now qualified for the competition’s second stage for the 16th time in succession, and that will be a tradition they are keen to continue.

The win means they finish as runners-up in group F, ahead of Olympiakos on goal difference. I think he’s among the best strikers in Europe. “We are very close in the dressing room and you could see this tonight”.

“We were in escape mode before the game and we needed something special”. We’ve qualified and we didn’t concede any goals.

Walcott felt that Arsenal proved they had learned from last year’s defeat against Monaco in how they approached the Olympiakos match with patience and never rushed their football even though they had to wait until into the second half before they were in a position to qualify.

Merson wrote in his column for the Daily Star: “Fair play to them for a massive result against Olympiacos but it didn’t shock me at all”.

“Whoever we get, we need to respect them well”.

The draw for the second round of the Champions League takes place on Monday, where Arsenal could face one of Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Wolfsburg or Zenit St. Petersburg. “He showed that in the game again today”, Wenger told Arsenal’s official website.

It was a flawless performance because he scored a header, one with a good combination thanks to a good pass by Campbell, and also a penalty on top of that.