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Wenger says Arsenal’s attack missing cutting edge
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IF Arsenal is to have any chance of overturning a 0-2 deficit against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League next month it must be sharper in front of goal, says manager Arsene Wenger.
The Gunners worked hard to keep the world’s most fearsome attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar relatively quiet until the 71st minute of Tuesday’s last-16, first-leg tie but by then they had spurned two excellent chances to take the lead.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was the culprit in the first half, anxiously shooting straight at Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, then Frenchman Olivier Giroud failed to convert the kind of close-range header he regularly dispatches.
They are the sort of opportunities that must be taken in the return at the Nou Camp on March 16 when Arsenal faces what many pundits think is ‘mission impossible’ after Messi showed how it should be done with two late goals at The Emirates.
The Argentine’s first strike followed a clinical counter-attack and his second from the penalty spot in the 83rd came after he was brought down by substitute Mathieu Flamini.
“We had an unbelievable chance in the first half and the way we finished our chances is a problem,” Wenger told reporters after his side’s demoralizing defeat.
“Technically we are not precise enough. I feel that in the final third at the moment we are missing something.”
Arsenal faces a sixth consecutive last-16 defeat in Europe’s elite club competition and the evidence suggests that when it plays the really big guns of European football it lacks the killer instinct in front of goal.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich remains confident of advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals despite blowing a two-goal lead in a thrilling 2-2 draw at Juventus in the first leg of their last-16 encounter on Tuesday.
The 2013 champion was well worth the 2-0 lead it had opened up after a dominant hour in Turin before the Italians hit back with two goals in the final 27 minutes to restore parity ahead of the return leg in Munich on March 16.
“We should not make the mistake and wrangle too much with this result even if we were leading by two goals during the game,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told a post-match dinner early yesterday.
“This is a very, very good result which keeps the door to the quarterfinal wide open,” he said after Bayern failed to make it three straight wins against Juventus in Turin.
Juventus, last season’s beaten finalist, has lost just twice in its past 46 home games in Europe, both times against the Bavarians, who again looked likely winners for much of the match.
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