Arsenal won their first leg tie in the Europa League round of 32 against Olympiakos 0-1 thanks to a goal from Alexandre Lacazette late in the second half of their away game.
Olympiakos started off strong missing possible goal-scoring opportunities within the opening minutes of the game.
Mathieu Valbuena and Giorgos Masouras came very close to giving the home side an early lead in the came but Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno was able to fend off Mathieu Valbuena’s attempt whilst Giorgos Masouras’s header went over the Arsenal goals.
David Luiz was the Gunners saving grace in the match having also stopped an own goal from teammate David Luiz after the ball deflected off him from an attempted pass from Giorgos Masouras.
The momentum from Arsenal picked up as the game progressed leading to a wonderful display of teamwork that saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang send a long ball to Saka who then went on to offload it to Lacazette who then score the Gunners first and the winning goal of the match in the 81st minute.
Alexandre Lacazette cam close to netting another goal just a few minutes later but was denied by Olympiakos goalkeeper Jose Sa. Arsenal were not done yet as Sokratis made one last attempt on the Olympiakos goal that unfortunately ended up hitting the crossbar.
Alexandre Lacazette’s away goal gives Arsenal the aggregate advantage when Olympiakos come to the Emirates on Thursday 27 February to decide which team will progress through to the next round of the UEFA Europa League competition.
Mikel Arteta was definitely pleased with his squad’s performance going on to say:
“It’s a really good result. To win here is really difficult. Credit to the lads. We suffered in the first 10 minutes. After that we started to have more control of the game and create some good opportunities.
“In the second half we controlled the game much better and we had chances. I think we could have put the tie in a much better position. It’s still good but we had clear chances with top players and we expect them to put the ball in the net.”
