Aaron Ramsey wheels away in delight after his stunning strike
On any level, the idea this was a meaningless group game was never further from the truth. It may not have quite been the freak result Arsenal wanted – Borussia Dortmund’s 1-1 draw with Anderlecht in the end was enough to secure them top seeding in Monday’s draw.
But say what you like about the Arsenal manager, he knows how to pull a performance out of his players when he needs one.
Wenger said: “We gave a strong response. We were dangerous every time we won the ball back, we had good penetration, goals and, until half-time, we were very strong.
“In the second half we suffered a bit more – some players had not enough competitive games and I had to take two players off. We were a bit lightweight in midfield. But, overall, it was a strong performance.”
The altercations on the platform of Stoke-on-Trent railway station on Saturday were ugly, with fans angrily seeing off their heroes with calls for the manager to quit.
Yet others continue to believe just as strongly that Wenger is still the right man. Perhaps uglier even than that was the infighting that erupted sporadically among Arsenal fans in and around the Britannia. The division through this famous club was as wide as the Bosphorus when Arsenal landed on the Asian side of Istanbul for a match in the European half of the city.
But it took just over three minutes for the team to start building bridges of their own. The simplest of through-balls from Aaron Ramsey was smacked inside the angle of crossbar and near post by Germany international Lukas Podolski – and that was just the start of it.
Ramsey himself had the ball in an identical position nine minutes later and appeared deliberately to execute a finish from the opposite end of the spectrum – soft, side-footed and just inside the far post. The Wales international can hit them, mind – even if Wenger later joked that he thought he had made the wrong decision and should not have bothered from fully 35 yards out.
But when Galatasaray’s clearance from a Joel Campbell corner fell straight on to Ramsey’s left foot, he did not think twice before half-volleying it screaming back into the top corner. “The ball came to me on the edge of the box and I had a go and thankfully it went in,” said Ramsey. “It’s up there with my best strikes.
“We scored a few goals tonight and took full advantage of the opportunities. We finished on a high and now we’re looking forward to seeing who we’ll face in the next round.” That will be a nervous wait with the very best sides lying in wait but for a while last night it seemed like it could be so much better than that.
REUTERS
Arsene Wenger was pleased with his side's response
We were a bit lightweight in midfield. But, overall, it was a strong performance
Arsene Wenger
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A 6-0 win would have taken Arsenal top and given them the better seeding if, as was eventually the case, the Dortmund game ended in a draw. Surely not?
Certainly, there had been other chances apart from the goals. Podolski had hit the bar, Yaya Sanogo should have finished better when put through and Campbell’s cross-shot had to be turned away by Sinan Bolat.
“We were not thinking about the 6-0 at the start of the game but at half-time, yes,” said Wenger. “But after we had to take Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini off, it was too much for us to hope we could score six.”
While Ramsey and Flamini should be fit for Saturday, in the short term last night their absence was indeed hard to cover.
Galatasaray were much better in the second half and Wesley Sneijder hit in a late consolation with a 20-yard free-kick.
Arsenal, though, were determined to have the last word and Podolski scored his second of the game with the very last kick of the night.
Tougher challenges lie ahead for Arsenal in this competition and they have gone out in the first knockout round in each of the past four years.
“Let’s wait for the draw, and prepare well,” said Wenger. “Now we can focus now on the Premier League.
“We have now gone 15 consecutive years in the last 16 and I believe that is an achievement. So at the end of February, then we will see where we stand.”