Arsenal Go Through to Champions League Last 16 with Routine Dinamo Win
Arsenal all but secured their place in the last-16 of the Champions League with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Declan Rice opened the scoring for the Gunners after just 104 seconds, before Kai Havertz doubled the lead with a header midway through the second half. Martin Odegaard added a third in stoppage-time to seal the win.
The result means Arsenal remain third in the group table with 16 points, and they can now only be knocked out of the top eight if they lose heavily to Girona next week and six of the chasing pack win their games.
Rapid Rice
Dinamo went into this game with a new manager in Fabio Cannavaro and having not played a competitive game for a month, and Arsenal took advantage of their lack of sharpness to take an early lead.
Martinelli set up Havertz in the area, who laid the ball off into the path of Rice, who fired a half-volley into the net to register his first Champions League goal.
It was the start Mikel Arteta would have dreamed of, but Arsenal were unable to add to their lead in the opening 45 minutes, despite their best efforts.
Rice was denied a second goal by a fine sliding block by Maxine Bernauer, while Gabriel headed wide from an Odegaard corner.
No Croatian team has ever won away from home against an English side in the European Cup or Champions League, and Dinamo never looked like bucking that trend. The visitors stifled Arsenal by trying to slow the game down as much as possible, and offered little threat before half-time, failing to register a shot on target.
Havertz heads home
The second half began slowly, but Arsenal eventually broke the deadlock again on 66 minutes when Martinelli whipped a cross into the box, where Havertz managed to get between the defenders and plant a header into the net.
Rice should have made it 3-0 10 minutes later, but he headed wide from close range.
Skipper strikes
In stoppage-time, Arsenal found one more final flourish by grabbing a third. On his 100th Arsenal appearance, Leandro Trossard found Odegaard in space on the left, and he sent in a delivery that was missed by a defender, and Odegaard was on hand to send it into the net.
There was another nice moment at the end of the game as Nathan Butler-Oyedeji came on for the final few minutes to make his Arsenal debut, on a night where Arsenal cruised to victory and almost certainly into the last-16.
FACTS AND STATS
Since the start of last season, no team has won more home games (8) or kept more home clean sheets (8) in the Champions League than Arsenal.
Dinamo Zagreb have lost eight of their last nine European away games against English sides, conceding at least two goals in every defeat.
Declan Rice’s opener after 104 seconds was Arsenal’s earliest Champions League goal since November 2014.
Kai Havertz has scored 14 goals in all competitions this season, as many as he managed in 51 appearances last season. Tonight was the first time the German has both scored and assisted in the same Champions League match.
Dinamo Zagreb failed to register a single shot on target in a Champions League match for the first time since October 2016.
Ethan Nwaneri made his fourth Champions League appearance – only Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott have made more for Arsenal before turning 18.
Jakub Kiwior completed all 55 of his passes tonight – the only Arsenal players on record (since 2003/04) with more passes in a Champions League match while maintaining a 100% accuracy are Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny.
After five straight home matches, Arsenal head to Wolves on Saturday for Premier League action, before they travel to Spain for their final group game against Girona on Wednesday, January 29. They’re then back in league action on Sunday, Febraury 2 when Manchester City visit the Emirates Stadium.
