GIFTS ROBERTS
Arsenal stepped a foot into the quarter-final stage of the Europa League, after beating Olympiakos away from home in Athens 1-3 in the first leg encounter of the round 16 stage last night.
Mikel Arteta’s men dominated in the first half of the game by holding a deserved half-time lead with a long-range strike from Martin Odegaard, as he scored his first goal for the club.
Speaking after the game, Arteta said he was pleased with his side’s performance in their victory over Olympiakos, but again expressed his displeasure with the way his team conceded goals.
“We started the game really well, very dominant, creating a lot of chances. We should have scored two or three in the first half, but we gave them two chances ourselves.
“After that, we started well again, gave them the goal trying to play out from the back but reacted really well. Overall, there were a lot of positive things, the result, a lot of performances as well, but we have to stop making the errors that are costing goals because you cannot sustain that.”
Recall that Arsenal were knocked out by the same opponents in last season’s Europa League, but with a 1–3-win last night, the gunners will be looking forward to a commanding lead ahead of next week’s second leg in North London.
Arsenal have won eight of their nine UEFA Europa League games this season drawing 1 so far and they are currently the highest scorers in the competition so far this season with 27 goals.