Anderlecht Draws 3-3 at Arsenal after Trailing 3-0
Arsenal threw away a 3-0 lead and an early place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday after Anderlecht launched a stunning comeback to draw 3-3 with a last-minute equalizer.
With only half an hour left, goals by captain Mikel Arteta from the penalty spot, Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had put Arsenal in complete control of the Group D match.
With Borussia Dortmund beating Galatasaray, Arsene Wenger's side appeared certain to join the Bundesliga club in the knockout stages with two games to spare.
Instead, two goals from Anthony Vanden Borre, the second from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute, hauled Anderlecht right back into the match as Arsenal's defense collapsed.
Aleksandar Mitrovic then completed the comeback by heading in the equalizer in the 90th minute, before celebrating in front of the euphoric visiting fans.
It was a stark reversal from the game in Anderlecht last month, when Arsenal scored two late goals to snatch a 2-1 win.
Wenger blamed bad luck, tiredness and, most of all, bad defending for the collapse.
"You have to give them (Anderlecht) credit, they did fight until the end and we had a poor defensive performance from the first minute to the last today," Wenger said. "We never felt comfortable and somewhere we got punished. A bit because of bad luck, the first (Anderlecht) goal was offside clearly, but defensively our performance was not good enough."
Arteta, who was substituted due to a hamstring injury, was equally critical of the performance.
"We can't afford to make these mistakes, it is just not good enough," Arteta said. "It was a massive night for us to ensure our qualification to the last 16. We threw everything away tonight and did not perform to the expected level of this football club. Luckily we have two more opportunities to amend this."
Dortmund's 4-1 win over Galatsaray sealed its place in the knockout stages with second-place Arsenal on seven points, Anderlecht with two and the Turkish side on one.
Anderlecht coach Besnik Hasi felt the turning point came with his side's first goal.
"We made a few changes and at 3-1 we gained in confidence," he said. "I also have to thank our fans tonight — even at 3-0 down they gave us confidence, and then we started to play. At 3-2, Arsenal started to have a doubt. So we really pushed forward and we scored the goal.
"This game is going to stay in my memory for sure. ... I'm very, very proud of my team. They were fantastic today."
Two weeks after Arsenal was fortunate to snatch a late victory in Belgium, Tuesday's performance at Emirates Stadium looked highly convincing — at least for the first hour.
The first goal came after Anderlecht center half Chancel Mbemba felled Danny Welbeck with a clumsy challenge in the area in the 25th minute.
Arteta coolly chipped his spot-kick down the middle as keeper Silvio Proto dived helplessly to his right, and the home side had taken a step toward the last 16.
Another step followed just four minutes later, after Sanchez took a free kick that struck the Anderlecht wall. The ball looped high in the air and back to the Chile striker, who smashed home a volley that Proto got a glove to but couldn't keep out. It was Sanchez's fifth goal in his last three matches.
Arsenal kept up the pressure after the re-start and was rewarded when Sanchez won back possession outside the Anderlecht area, releasing Oxlade-Chamberlain for a penetrating run and a curling shot past Proto into the far corner.
However, defensive frailties have marked Wenger's side this season and they again proved costly.
Substitute Davy Roef broke down the right flank in the 61st minute and sent in a low cross that Vanden Borre turned in from point-blank range — with Arsenal appeals for offside waved away by the referee.
Vanden Borre then narrowed the deficit even further from the penalty spot, giving Szczesny no chance after Nacho Monreal had pulled down Mitrovic in the area.
At this stage, the home side was barely clinging on to a victory and a place in the knockout stages. That already loose grip was broken completely when Mitrovic brilliantly headed home Andy Najar's cross into the corner of the Arsenal net in the last minute.
"Maybe we underestimated subconsciously Anderlecht and got punished," Wenger summed up. "That's the Champions League. You need to be at the mental level ... and certainly we were not."
Source: Associated Press
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