Arsenal find their feet in Greece to claim a big win

Arsenal beat Olympiacos in the Europa League Round of 16 first leg on Thursday night with three moments of magic. Two long-range goals and a towering header sealed a cool 3-1 win and spared Mikel Arteta’s nerves despite a poorly conceded goal.

Martin Odegaard hammered in a sensational goal to put the Gunners ahead. The Real Madrid midfielder is loving life in North London, and it shows. He is already one of Arteta’s key man and there is no doubt his fantastic strike will urge Arsenal directors to push for Odegaard’s transfer to be made permanent.

However, almost nothing goes smoothly for Arsenal this season. They allowed the hosts to get back into the game after the break by allowing the Greek team to assume control of the ball. Youssef El Arabi was on hand to make the most out of a Bernd Leno’s blunder. The German ‘keeper played a poor short pass and put Dani Ceballos under unnecessary pressure. The Spaniard mis-controlled the ball and allowed El Arabi to sidefoot into the net and level the score.

Areta will be delighted with his team’s application after the equalizer as the Gunners found another gear and scored two more goals to make a huge step towards the quarterfinal. Gabriel headed perfectly from a Willian cross to make it 2-1 before Mohamed Elneny struck from long range to seal the win. The Egyptian was on the pitch for just a few minutes before finding the net.

Arsenal’s biggest rivals Tottenham Hotspur had too much for the competition’s surprise package Dinamo Zagreb. Harry Kane continued to terrorize defenders as he broke down the Croats with an easy finish from a rebound, but it was his second that truly showed the England star’s class. He sold a dummy to a poor Kevin Theophile-Catherine before slotting through the Frenchman’s legs to make it 2-0.

Elsewhere, Norwegian team Molde eliminated the German Bundesliga side Hoffenheim in the last round in a thrilling match, but they were outclassed by a rampant Granada. The Spaniards took the lead through a commanding Jorge Molina finish midway through the first half. Their domination and relentless pressure gave them another goal with quarter of an hour left as Roberto Soldado found the net.

In the meantime, Roma beat the Ukrainians of Shakhtar Donetsk easily. Lorenzo Pellegrini gave the Romans the lead after being played in beautifully by former Barcelona and Chelsea winger Pedro. Shakhtar weren’t at their usual sharp and they let in two more late goals to make their second-leg task even more difficult.

EUROPA LEAGUE, LAST 16 (First leg)

Thursday

Ajax – Young Boys 3-0 (0-0)

/Klaassen 62, Tadic 82, Brobbey 90+2/

Dynamo Kyiv – Villarreal 0-2 (0-1)

/Pau Torres 30, Albiol 52/

Manchester United – AC Milan 1-1 (0-0)

/Diallo 50 – Kjaer 90+2/

Slavia Prague – Rangers 1-1 (1-1)

/Stanciu 7 – Helander 36/

Granada – Molde 2-0 (1-0)

/Molina 26, Soldado 76/

Olympiacos – Arsenal 1-3 (0-1)

/El Arabi 58 – Odegaard 34, Gabriel 80, Elneny 85/

AS Roma – Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 (1-0)

/Pellegrini 23, El Shaarawy 73, Mancini 77/

Tottenham – Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 (1-0)

/Kane 25, 70/