Arsenal squandered a chance to wrap up
first place in Champions League Group A as Paris Saint-Germain hit back
to earn a 2-2 at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Arsene Wenger’s side were on course to
secure top spot and a possible easier draw in the last 16 after taking a
2-1 lead in the second half.
Having trailed to Edinson Cavani’s
first-half opener, the Gunners equalised through Olivier Giroud just
before the break and went ahead in the second half thanks to a Marco
Verratti own goal.
But Lucas equalised in the closing
stages to ensure Arsenal and PSG, who had both already qualified for the
last 16, will have to wait until the final round of group matches to
settle their fight for pole position.
Arsenal, who travel to Basel for their
last match on December 6, sit second in the group, level on points with
PSG, who play Ludogorets in their final fixture.
After paying the price for finishing
second in their group several times in recent years, Wenger had called
on his players to finish in first place so they might avoid yet another
daunting last 16 draw.
But that message didn’t seem to have hit
home as Arsenal made another unconvincing start just days after their
tepid performance in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United.
PSG threatened an early opener when
sloppy Arsenal marking allowed Uruguay striker Cavani to win a header in
the penalty area and Thiago Motta narrowly failed to turn the loose
ball into the net.
Unable to shake off their lethargy, Arsenal fell behind in the 18th minute.
Motta slipped a perfectly weighted pass
towards Blaise Matuidi and, with Shkodran Mustafi caught flat-footed,
the winger was able to direct a low cross into the six yard box, where
the sliding Cavani had the simple task of netting his fifth Champions
League goal this season.
PSG’s preparations had been disrupted
when Ivorian defender Serge Aurier was stopped from entering the United
Kingdom at the last minute.
– Comical fashion –
UK authorities revoked Aurier’s visa following his two-month suspended prison sentence for assaulting a police officer.
But, in the first half, PSG were far
superior to Arsenal, whose lone attack of note in the opening 44 minutes
ended with Aaron Ramsey appealing in vain for a penalty after Tiago
Silva’s challenge
Despite their laboured efforts, Arsenal conjured an equaliser out of nowhere on the stroke of half-time.
Mesut Ozil guided a pass into Alexis Sanchez and his sharp turn drew a lunge from Grzegorz Krychowiak.
It appeared Krychowiak had missed Sanchez and the ball, but the Chilean still fell and referee Felix Brych awarded a penalty.
PSG were clearly irked by the decision
as Cavani became embroiled in a spat with Ramsey, but Giroud ignored the
fuss and stroked home the spot-kick to make it two goals in successive
games after his equaliser at United.
Lucas almost restored PSG’s lead with a free-kick that grazed the top of the crossbar early in the second half.
Arsenal’s luck was in again as they went ahead in comical fashion in the 60th minute.
A promising Arsenal attack looked to
have floundered when Ramsey and Sanchez couldn’t finish, but
Marquinhos’s panicked clearance cannoned into Verratti and rebounded
into the net past bemused PSG goalkeeper Alphonse Areola.
But PSG finally had some good fortune of
their own to snatch an equaliser in the 77th minute as Lucas nodded a
tame effort goalwards and Alex Iwobi, trying to head clear, deflected
the ball into his own net when David Ospina would easily have saved.
Cavani should have won it for PSG, but he missed two golden opportunities in the final minutes.
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