Arsenal v. Porto 5-0 9/Feb/10

The 'Big Dane' finally got his hat-trick.
[Photo: Adam Davy/Empics via Guardian]


Today the Gunners completely ravaged an unuseful and insecure Porto team. Whether this reads as another one of those biased headlines, it was the particular way in which this team managed to beat in such a surreptitious fashion another team that, at least on paper, tried to be a threat. Nonetheless an outstanding exhibition by Nicklas Bendtner, Samir Nasri and particularly the Russian Arshavin completed a night which had its nervy moments. Even when Porto were on full attack, it seemed impossible for the Gunners to lose the grip of the match.

With the absence of the star of the team, the panorama looked rather murky as the Gunners needed to pull off a one-goal deficit to enter the next stage. The Portuguese team had another miserable evening when they drew against Olhanense at their local tournament. Even with the hazard of the two strikers Falcao and Hulk, the Gunners relied on their local support to go past the quarterfinals.

Media highlighted the fact that Arsenal do not need Cesc; this only probes that he is not needed against lesser opposition such as the one at the Grove today. Following his disastrous cameo against Burnley, Bendtner's confidence must rise as he earned a place in history books, in Europe and in England.

Regarding Nasri's goal, Phillipe Auclaire -France Football's commentator for English football- wrapped it up in his Twitter: "This was a very big test Samir Nasri, who passes it with flying colours, and the best goal of his career. Un chef d'oeuvre." Denilson, also had his reaction. Another description for the goal, came from the Guardian.



Zinedine Zidane in red and white?
[Photo: Getty Images via Daily Mail]


With the start of Campbell and the Ramsey banners waving throughout the stadium, the Gunners began a match in quite an uncomfortable way; during the first ten minutes, possession was lost and the willfull Portuguese team managed to keep at bay the home team. The critical shift of the evening was Samir Nasri: through his first efforts the Londoners managed to escape the different approaches the opposition made.

In one of those escapades, Andrey Arshavin received a goal-kick from Almunia, and later, Nasri set him; the Russian released Bendtner who comfortably put the ball in the back of the net. Following repetitions showed that Andrey Arshavin was indeed in an illegal position but this claim does not take away the fact that the Londoners were dominating and truly deserved the goal. Even when the home team managed to give some time and space, there was no real threat for Almunia's goal. Nasri, in one of his most delightful appearances so far, gave his team the push and craft they needed to go forward.

Again the Russian, provided some of his witchcraft as he beat four Porto defenders and set again Nicklas Bendtner. The goal bolstered the Londoners confidence and even when the prospect of retaliation was present, with this scoreline -and above all the performance- there was no real way in which we could see this turning off. Nasri's creation dispensed Arshavin with another tremendous pass. With another shot from the Frenchman the surviving temperament of Porto was fading way as well as their time to counteract it.



Clinical finish to secure his three-goal tally.
[Photo: Getty Images via Daily Mail]


The image posted by the broadcasters really was of an utter joy until Harry Redknapp appeared in the stands. Really 'Arry, do you want to qualify to the pre-Champions stage to get dumped by Fiorentina or Atlético Madrid? Well that would be funny. In any case the visitors made a couple of substitutions which proved to be worthless. With a couple of interventions by the Portuguese offenders, there was not much to be done by them. Falcao managed to scare more than one in the stadium with a point blank shot that was decently saved by the Spanish keeper.

Reaching the 65th minute Wenger substituted Rosicky for Eboue. This change seemed to un-favour the already broken visiting defence, since many of their attacks were coming form the sides. Indeed the manoeuvres was not wise when Samir Nasri, inspired and fully deploying his attacking repertoire, gave us an absolute cracker. Not only did he summed up his participation in the match, but gave us a real beautiful option for contention in the Season Awards. Passing two defenders, who ludicrously waited for him, he stormed into the box, to shake off the other markers with a swift movement worth of a ballerina. The rest is history, firing from an acute angle, that Helton could not save.

Afterwards the fourth came when the masterful skill of Andrey Arshavin gave Emmanuel Eboué his deserved goal. In another killing counter-attack, the Russian wizard went past three to pass a through ball to the Ivorian who dribbled Helton and scored. The night could not have been sweeter as Stan Collymore took all the stick of the whole Emirates. After some substitutions the Gunners were awarded a penalty, Fucile the infractor. Bendtner scored clinically to earn his hat-trick has he celebrated with Eboué Arsenal's qualification to the quarterfinals.