BVB's victory means second round

Borussia beats Arsenal 2:1 and reaches the second round in the European Champions League because Eindhoven wins against Auxerre.


The match had just begun when the BVB fans were almost celebrating the first goal. A pass by Ewerthon through the middle finds Ricken who's storming towards Seaman's goal but his shot just hits the aluminium frame.
During the following minutes, it seems that London is looking for fast-breaks. 14th minute, it's Dede passing into the box from the outer left field and Koller's header hits the aluminium. Oh, not again! Usually, you're punished if you don't use these kind of chances. Well, it's minute 18, Kehl's committing a foul in the midfield just 20 meters away from Lehmann's goal and it's Henry who shoots the free-kick. And what a free-kick this was. I was reminded of the match against Feyenoord Rotterdam last may. The ball goes over the defense and lands in the goal, no chance for Lehmann. It's 0:1 for Arsenal.
During the following minutes, the match goes from one side to the other. First it's Ricken's shot that misses the goal and on the other side it's Vieira who misses the goal by a few centimeters. 37th minute, Ewerthon's shot goes over Seaman's goal.
And then, it's Rosicky the magician: His free-kick from the left side flies through the box and lands in the goal. But it was an indirect free-kick, did someone touch it?
Yes, it's Arsenal's Gilberto Silva from whose head the ball flies into the net: 1:1!

Then the break, it's a fair tie till now. News spread that Eindhoven's in the lead against Auxerre. This would mean that both Arsenal and the Borussia are in the next round....
You got the impression that both teams were quite aware that the tie was all they needed to reach their goals, so during second half it wasn't quite a brilliant game.
Then it's the 60th minute, a pass to Koller who's entering the box, Seaman's facing him, Koller passes the ball beside him and Seaman can't block it. Then Koller jumps into the air and falls down.
Penalty! Yes, the referee thinks so too, but I'm not really sure if it's really been one. Nevertheless, Rosicky scores (lower left corner): 2:1.

Then, a couple of substitutes, but it looks that everybody knows that Eindhoven's still in the lead (2:0) and that Auxerre's only playing with 9 players so there's no danger from there. Well, after 4 minutes overtime during which the BVB doesn't seem to be very secure in the defence.

All in all, BVB's victory is O.K. because Arsenal was not able to perform the quality they showed earlier.
Referee Gonzales from Spain was good (though the penalty wasn't one).

Borussia Dortmund – FC Arsenal London 2:1 (1:1)

BVB: Lehmann – Evanilson, Wörns, Metzelder, Dede – Kehl, Frings, Ricken – Rosicky – Koller, Ewerthon.

Arsenal: Seaman – Laurén, Campbell, Cygan, Cole – Gilberto, Vieira, Pires, Ljungberg – Wiltord, Henry.

Substitutions: 69. Reuter for Kehl, 84. Heinrich for Ricken, 90. Madouni for Rosicky – 67. Touré for Pires, 79. Kanu for Wiltord, 80. Edu for Gilberto.

Goals: 0:1 Henry (18.), 1:1 Gilberto (38. own-goal), 2:1 Rosicky (63. penalty).

Referee: Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzáles (Spain)

Yellow Card: Reuter

Audience: 51.200 (sold-out)



Geschrieben von Arnie