Arsenal beat Cologne, a match of masterpieces

The Gunners marked their first appearance in the Europa League, with a 3-1 win over the visitors from Germany.

Goals: Kolasinac 49', Sanchez 67', Bellerin 81' - Cordoba 9'

North Londoners were left stunned as more than 20,000 German fans swarmed the streets around the Emirates Stadium hours before kick-off. Banks in Cologne ran out of pounds as fans cashed in for the historic trip to London. This was the first time in 25 years that a German team had made it to the European Cup.

Police were deployed at full strength and the match was delayed for an hour. Cologne fans caused chaos outside the stadium, pretending to be Arsenal fans to buy tickets to the stadium, as they were only given 2,900 tickets. Their large numbers and aggression posed a big challenge to the Gunners fans. On the field, Arsenal also encountered an unpleasant style of play from coach Peter Stoger's team.

Having kept seven key players for the derby against Chelsea this weekend, Arsenal were disjointed and defensively sloppy throughout the first half. But Wenger and his players were somewhat fortunate to only concede one goal during that period.

In the ninth minute, goalkeeper Ospina rushed out of the penalty area to clear the ball, not having time to retreat. Seeing the opportunity, Jhon Cordoba quickly shot from 30 meters away, causing Ospina to collapse helplessly. Most of the audience at Emirates also fell silent, but a few fans from Germany started to set off flares.

Wenger was worried throughout the first half. Photo: Reuters.

After the break, Wenger brought on Kolasinac to replace Holding to take advantage of the German's attacking ability. It was a wise decision because just four minutes after entering the field, the Bosnian player spoke up. Kolasinac appeared at the right time, in the right place in the penalty area to launch a volley like a rocket, not giving goalkeeper Timo Horn a chance to see the ball.

Having broken the deadlock, Arsenal began to flourish. But they needed a moment of brilliance from their star man to take the lead. The brightest player on the pitch - Alexis Sanchez - tried to dribble across the goal, before unleashing a brilliant shot into the far corner. The difficult finish with great accuracy once again left Horn rooted to the spot. The Arsenal players could have celebrated after this goal.

"Sanchez came back to life in the second half," Wenger said after the game. "He still needs time to find his best form. But Sanchez is still an outstanding player and can score or make decisive assists."

Alexis has shown that he is still a very important factor for Arsenal, although he is not in the best physical condition and is having mental problems as he is preparing to leave. Photo: Reuters.

Arsenal did not give Cologne a chance to equalise, but they did make it 3-1 in the 81st minute after Bellerin converted a rebound into the box. The result did not disappoint Cologne fans. The noise from the away section at the Emirates may have died down, but they all stayed after the game to pay their respects to the players, while the locals had already left en masse.

This victory helped Arsenal take sole possession of the top spot in Group H because in the remaining match, BATE Borisov was held to a 1-1 draw at FK Crvena Zvezda.

Competition list:

Arsenal(3-4-3): Ospina; Holding (Kolasinac 45') Mertesacker, Monreal; Bellerin, Iwobi (Wilshere 68'), Elneny, Maitland-Niles; Walcott (Nelson 82'), Giroud, Sanchez

Unused subs: Macey, Mustafi, Rene-Adelaide, Akpom

Cologne(4-1-4-1): T. Horn; Klunter (Osako 78'), Mere, Heinz, Rausch; Lehmann; Zoller (Risse 65'), Hoger, Hector (Jojic 35'), Bittencourt; Cordoba

Unused Subs: Kessler, Sorensen, Guirassy, ​​J. Horn

Referee: Javier Estrada

Audience: 59,359

According to VNE