How both the teams lined up for the fixture?
AC Milan: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Calabria, Bonucci, Romagnoli, Rodriguez, Kessie, Biglia, Bonaventura, Suso, Cutrone, Calhanoglu.
Subs: Antonio Donnarumma, Kalinic, Andre Silva, Borini, Zapata, Montolivo, Locatelli.
Arsenal: Ospina, Chambers, Mustafi, Koscielny, Kolasinac, Ramsey, Xhaka, Wilshere, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Welbeck.
Subs: Cech, Holding, Iwobi, Maitland-Niles, Elneny, Nelson, Nketiah.
Referee: Clement Turpin (France)
What Happened?
The Gunners were under lot of pressure coming into the fixture but today things finally go Arsenal’s way.
Arsenal were looking absolutely beautiful since the first whistle and had upper hand over Milan since the first play.
With their first shot on target, Arsenal took the lead. A good ball from Mesut Ozil finding Henrikh Mkhitaryan and he unleashes a shot that deflects off Leonardo Bonucci and past Gianluigi Donnarumma. It Mkhitaryan’s first goal for Arsenal.
Tough Arsenal had the lead, AC Milan do still were carrying threat. But everything was put to bed by the magician again with his(Ozil’s) another provider to Aaron Ramsey, whose quick feet leaves keeper Donnarumma on the ground – and he rolled the ball into the empty net. The Gunners produced their best performance in weeks to be leading 2-0 against a team who were unbeaten in 13 games.
Arsenal looked a composed side, a lot better than what supporters are watching in last couple of weeks. They were calm with the ball – grinding without the ball and today’s result shows their efforts.
Arsene Wenger will be a relived man as Arsenal are finally back to winning ways after their worst losses on the trot tally since 2002.
Arsenal goes into the second leg at Emirates with two away goals, Arsene Wenger and Arsenal will need to showcase their A game again when both the sides meet next week (14 March, 2018)
This is Arsenal’s first win at San Siro since defeating AC Milan in Champions League visit in 2008.
Who said What:
Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsay, speaking to BT Sport: “We started well, we got a couple of goals in the first half and we have shown we have plenty of character in the team. It is never easy to come to the San Siro and play AC Milan, we came here before and lost 4-0. We played well in the first half and moved the ball well and kept a clean sheet. We have been on a bad run, but sometimes you train hard and it does not work, but we know what we are capable of.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, speaking to BT Sport: “It is an important win of course after we had a nightmare week. Overall it is important to win, but it is not qualification. We have to finish the job at home. I am happy with the spirit and response we gave. We were not in a position to take risks, but we could not be too cautious as you lose fluidity. We defended with resilience until the end. When you play in a cup final it is hard to digest in a few days. When you are knocked down like a boxer you don’t have time to react and you are only halfway up, but you have to respond. Your pride and desire to show quality has to come through in the game.”
