
POIROT himself might have struggled to work this one out.
The fictional Belgian detective would have been scratching his head at how Arsenal went two down in five minutes, then won thanks to mysterious capers in the penalty area.
At the centre of it all was Eduardo, who went from arch-villain to match-winning hero.
The Croatian striker cannot stay out of the Champions League headlines.
He was only playing because his two-match suspension for diving in the qualifier against Celtic was overturned by UEFA's appeals tribunal.
But, when he tried a ridiculous backheel to gift Liege the opener, the travelling fans must have wished his ban had been upheld.
Liege quickly got a second from the penalty spot after William Gallas was adjudged to have tripped Milan Jovanovic but Nicklas Bendtner pulled a goal back on half-time.
Then Thomas Vermaelen equalised with 12 minutes left, although he and Alexandre Song looked offside and Song appeared to handle the ball as well.
Three minutes later, a Cesc Fabregas corner came through a crowd of players and Eduardo kneed it over the line for the winner.
Quite amazing.
A huge banner in the Maurice Dufrasne Stadium had called for revenge for 1993 when Arsenal inflicted the Belgian club's heaviest defeat in European competition, a 7-0 thrashing in the Cup Winners Cup.
Another one simply read "Vendetta" and the messages certainly had the desired effect on two minutes.
As Belgium star Vermaelen cleared a corner, it dropped to Eduardo whose attempt at a fancy flick fell into the path of Eliaquim Mangala.
Liege's centre-back could not believe his good fortune and he fired in a 20-yard shot which beat rookie keeper Vitor Mannone at the near post.
The damage quickly got worse.Gallas appeared to have Jovanovic under his control as the Serbian striker collected a ball in the box.
But, when Jovanovic attempted to come inside, down he went with Gallas adjudged to have clipped his opponent's heel.
Spanish referee Eduardo Gonzalez had no doubt it was a penalty but replays suggested Jovanovic made the most of it.
Whatever the truth, up stepped Jovanovic to double the lead.
"It was harsh," said boss Arsene Wenger afterwards before adding with a smile. "It's a case we can win on appeal."
Wenger said his troops were caught cold. Too right. They were frozen to the spot.
Poor Mannone had touched the ball twice - both times to pick it out of the net.
The 21-year-old was only playing because of sickness to first choice Manuel Almunia and injury to reserve stopper Lukasz Fabianski.
The Italian looked nervous and the crowd could sense it. His kicking suffered badly as he repeatedly sliced clearances.
For Arsenal it was all horribly reminiscent of their last game in the Champions League proper, the semi-final with Manchester United that saw them ship two goals in the opening 11 minutes.
With the Gunners also missing Andrey Arshavin, Denilson, Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie it was a big ask to come back.
Having lost their previous two league games against both Manchester clubs, Arsenal were staring at a third defeat in a row for the first time in seven years.
Tomas Rosicky, making his first start in 20 months after a serious hamstring injury, tried to get his team going but they were absolutely shell-shocked.
Gradually, though, Arsenal found their rhythm and pulled a goal back just before half-time.
Midfielder Abou Diaby did extremely well to turn Mangala and played in Bendtner down the right.
The Danish striker was on to the ball before the home defence could react and he fired through the legs of keeper Sinan Bolat. It was the lifeline Arsenal needed.
Early in the second half, Emmanuel Eboue performed heroics to turn a low Wilfried Dalmat cross over his own bar - and from that point the Gunners began to wear down their opponents.
But there was a large slice of fortune or two for the equaliser. A Fabregas free-kick was floated to the far post, where centre-half Vermaelen and midfielder Song seemed offside.
As Song fell over, the ball hit his arm before dropping to Vermaelen to finish it off from close range.
Liege coach Laszlo Boloni protested: "Two offside and they played it with the hand."
Arsenal were not satisfied with a draw.
And after 81 minutes Eduardo kneed the ball in from Fabregas' corner to grab all three points.
No comments:
Post a Comment