Sporting Club Braga Vs. Arsenal: Post Game

Fabregas asking to be substituted

Arsene Wenger and his men must look inside themselves and face the harsh realities of their current situation. After having thrown away three points on the weekend and spurned a chance to go top of the table, Arsenal let lowly Braga fight its way to a two-nil victory on decisive match day five of the Champions League. Two easily avoidable defensive lapses exposed the flat back four and now threaten to jeopardize Arsenal’s spot in the last sixteen. A far cry from the performance that led to a six-nil thrashing of Braga back in September, Arsenal looked lethargic, uninspired, and weak at the back.

The fixture turned from bad to worse when skipper Cesc Fabregas fell to a recurrence of the hamstring knock that has held him out of the starting XI for the past few weeks. Wenger was justifiably furious in the last 15 minutes when the ref, and the goal line official turned a blind eye on a clear takedown of Carlos Vela inside the area and refused to listen to penalty appeals, instead booking the striker for diving. Matheus' first goal was simply the clinical finish of a golden opportunity by a good striker, but his second strike, the last before the final whistle, was truly masterful. Trapped by three Arsenal defenders, Matheus' weaved in and out before smashing a left-footed strike that slammed against the cross bar and over the line. Mass hysteria ensued in the stadium as Braga supporters could not believe their luck. After having been outclassed for more than ninety minutes, Braga walked away the recipients of a two-nil victory and successfully leapfrogged Arsenal in Group H standings. This is surely the turning point in Arsenal’s season. They are faced with not only arguably their toughest stretch of the domestic campaign, but also a must win game against Partizan Belgrade on match-day six if they wish to continue their European Cup adventures. If this is to be the year to break the 5 year trophy drought, Arsenal must shake their injury woes (both Emmanuel Eboue, and Fabregas were injured against Braga, and will be out for four and two weeks respectively), be more efficient up front, and eliminate careless defensive errors that have left them prone to giving away leads all year long. It will certainly be interesting to see if the feisty Frenchman can regroup his beleaguered troops and make a run in both the Premiership and the Champions League.