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MOTD- Arsenal 1-2 Borussia Dortmund

By on October 22, 2013

Arsene Wenger did not get the birthday present he was hoping for as his side fell to Borussia Dortmund in the Uefa Champions League Group F.  Wenger, who turned sixty-four on Tuesday, saw Jurgen Klopp’s men end his side’s eleven match unbeaten run through Robert Lewandowski’s last minute winner.  Although Arsenal were Dortmund’s biggest test so far in the 2013/14 season the German side proved to be up to the task of facing leaders of the Premier League.

Everything clicked into place for Dortmund as the away side pressured Arsenal in the opening minutes, pushing Wenger’s side into their own half.  Dortmund’s nonstop pressuring of Arsenal brought them numerous chances, with Marco Reus whipping a twenty-five yard shot just wide of the post at the end of a Dortmund counter-attack in the eleventh minute.  It seemed that a Dortmund opener was inevitable, and it took only fourteen minutes for the former German champions to capitalize on their pressure and open the scoring.  Aaron Ramsey attempted to dribble his way out of the defense and found himself dispossessed by a brilliant Reus tackle, and the ball fell to Lewandowski, who played it to Henrik Mkhitaryan on the edge of the Arsenal box.  Mkhitaryan took one touch to set up a shot before blasting a low effort past a wrong-footed Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny into the bottom corner of the net.

Although Dortmund continued to dominate Arsenal began to find their way back into the match as the first half neared it’s end.  The Gunners’ really should have taken the lead in the forty-first minute when Tomas Rosicky volleyed a Mats Hummels clearance past Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller from twenty yards, only for Hummels to hack it off the line.  Yet it still wasn’t expected when Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal an equalizer three minutes later.  Bacary Sagna curled a cross in from the right, and although Weidenfeller came out to claim it a slight deflection of the leg of Neven Subotic led Weidenfeller to accidentally kick the cross into the path of Giroud, who coolly side-volleyed it into the back of the open net from point-blank range.

Arsenal controlled the opening minutes of the second half, and came inches away from completing the comeback when Mesut Ozil cut it back to Santi Cazorla on the edge of the box. The Spaniard curled a beautiful bending shot past a helpless Weidenfeller onto the top cross bar, as the home side’s threat grew. Cazorla then had his hammered shot headed toward the top corner blocked by a Dortmund defender, but Dortmund managed to put an end to Arsenal’s threat as Lewandowski gave Klopp’s side the lead in the eighty-first minute. Kevin Grosskreutz curled a cross towards the far post from the right, which a totally unmarked Lewandowski volleyed past Szczesny. Although Arsenal became desperate with long ball’s Wenger’s side couldn’t find an equalizer, with the match ending 2-1 after two minutes of stoppage time.
Man of the Match: Robert Lewandowski

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.