Arsenal crushed Ludogorets Razgrad by an expressive result of 6-0 in tonight's Football match for the third round of the Group Stage of the Champions League. Although they have "only" 7 points and split leadership of Group A with Paris Saint-Germain, they did a great leap towards qualifying for the next stage, due to the results of Group A. The other rivals, today's Bulgarian side and Basel (Switzerland), have both amassed a single point after the first three rounds, which means that the Gunners are 6 points above the "disqualifying zone." And if they keep the attitude they've shown today, that would be easy; the question will then be just if they can achieve the first place of the Group.
Ludogorets: bravery not rewarded
As usually happens in football, the final score may not tell the whole story, and that's even more true when the losing team breaks down mentally. Ludogorets got to the Emirates not willing to play the way Jose Mourinho played last Monday in Anfield Road against Liverpool, blocking the attacking efforts of the adversary, and they might be praised for that. In fact, according to UEFA, the Bulgarian even had more ball possession (56% vs 44%), and also a better passing accuracy (86% against 81%).
However, that "open" attitude helped Alexis Sánchez to open the scorer at 13 minutes, when he ran across Ludogorets' defensive line.
Of course, his own talent was also essential to undersign a brilliant move above the Bulgarian goalkeeper.
Notwithstanding, the visitors continued to fight, and Arsenal's keeper David Ospina made a couple of saves, absolutely vital to the later story of this match. Also vital was the ball the "kissed" the goal post, maintaing the Gunners ahead. At minute 42, Theo Walcott saw an opportunity and opened way for the 2-0 result at half-time.
Mesut Özil and the Bulgarian psycological break-down
In spite of thr advantage, the fans were not completely reassured, given the bravery shown by the Bulgarians and their will to fight for the result. However, the 3-0 scored Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on minute 46 was quite a blow to the Ludogorets expectations for the second half.
Eventually, the team routed disorderly from the battlefield, opening the way for fate of Mesut Özil. The german attacking midfielder took the Emirates Stadium for himself and gave three more cheering moments to all the fans. According to the Guardian, he didn't even celebrate that much, given the "lack of resistance" he found.
Watch the game highlights:
Arsenal will travel to Razgrad, in Bulgaria, to meet Ludogorets in round 4 of the Champions' Group Stage. The game will take place on November 1st and a victory will arithmetically insure that the Gunners will not finish 4th place of the group, therefore qualifying at least for Europa League.