Olivier Giroud grabbed a superb hat-trick as Arsenal crushed Olympiakos Piraeus 3-0 to book their spot in the Champions League last-16 on Wednesday.
|||ATHENS: Olivier Giroud grabbed a superb hat-trick as Arsenal crushed Olympiakos 3-0 to book their spot in the Champions League last-16 on Wednesday.
With Arsenal needing an emphatic victory to make it out of Group F, France forward Giroud produced a high-calibre display of finishing to ensure the English club finished second, level on nine points with Olympiakos, but ahead by virtue of their better head-to-head record.
Giroud opened the scoring with a powerful header in the first half, doubled Arsenal’s advantage with a calm left-footed finish quickly after the restart and rounded off a superb individual display with a penalty.
The victory completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Arsenal, who lost three of their first four games of the campaign and needed to win by any result other than 1-0 or 2-1 in their decisive group clash to finish second behind group winners Bayern Munich.
Meanwhile in London, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea earned much-needed relief from their domestic woes, beating his former club Porto 2-0 to top Group G.
A 12th-minute own goal which rebounded off Ivan Marcano under pressure from Diego Costa and a well-worked second-half strike from Brazilian winger Willian ensured victory for the struggling English champions and sent Porto into the Europa League.
Chelsea, cheered by a beaming owner Roman Abramovich, looked a different side from the one that have slumped to eight domestic defeats in 15 league games, including four at home.
The result takes the pressure off Mourinho after intense speculation that the coach, who has won the Champions League with both Porto and Inter Milan, might lose his job if Chelsea failed to qualify for the knockout stages.
A jubliant and relieved crowd celebrated a possible turning point in a turbulent season by chanting Mourinho’s name.
In Zagreb, Bayern Munich eased into the last-16 after a second-half double by top scorer Robert Lewandowski gave them a 2-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in their Group F match.
Bayern, who had already secured top spot in the group, finished with 15 points from six games, six ahead of Arsenal.
After a tepid first half, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola brought on Thomas Mueller into his makeshift side at the interval and Germany’s 2014 World Cup winner made a telling impact despite missing a 90th-minute penalty.
Mueller’s perfect cross allowed Lewandowski to break the deadlock with a diving header on the hour and the Poland striker added the second with a dinked finish three minutes later. – Reuters
WEDNESDAY RESULTS
Bayer Leverkusen 1 Barcelona 1, Roma 0 BATE Borisov 0, Dinamo Zagreb 0 Bayern Munich 2, Olympiacos 0 Arsenal 3, Chelsea 2 Porto 0, Dynamo Kiev 1 Maccabi Tel Aviv 0, Gent 2 Zenit St Petersburg 1, Valencia 0 Lyon 2.
LAST-16 TEAMS
Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Paris St Germain, Wolfsburg, PSV Eindhoven, Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Juventus, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Zenit St Petersburg, Roma, Dynamo Kiev, Gent.
