Arsenal 5 Porto 0 (agg 6-2): Nicklas Bendtner leads massacre as it's a high five for top Gunners
Those who nicknamed him ‘Barndoor Bendtner’ after his efforts
against Burnley might still take some convincing when the opportunities
Arsenal’s Danish striker enjoyed did not exactly test his finishing
ability.
They might still say he could not score the kind of goal
that Samir Nasri produced to make sure of Arsenal’s passage to the
Champions League quarter-finals, beating three Porto players before
driving a shot in off Helton’s right-hand post.
Or indeed the
goal that then followed from Emmanuel Eboue, who had the composure not
only to time his run to perfection in meeting a wonderful ball from
Andrey Arshavin but then rounded Porto’s goalkeeper to score Arsenal’s
fourth goal of an extraordinary night.
But convert those chances
Nicklas Bendtner did — as well as an injury-time penalty for his
hat-trick after the hopeless Fucile had brought down Eboue — and it
still amounted to a fine response to the criticism he received after
last weekend and daring to suggest earlier this season that he would
finish the season as top scorer in the Barclays Premier League.
Great Dane: Nicklas Bendtner fired a hat-trick to seal Arsenal's progression
He still has some way to go, and not just because the two he scored
at the Emirates last night took his tally for the season to a modest
eight.
But Arsene Wenger needed someone who could rescue his side from what
looked like a pretty precarious situation after the first leg of this
Champions League tie and Bendtner delivered.
Wenger must have been feeling pretty pleased with himself. Perhaps
not as much as Bendtner, judging by the 22-year-old’s apparent capacity
for self-adulation.
But Wenger did not just predict that Bendtner would ‘score his next
one’, he also confidently declared that his side would create a small
piece of Arsenal ‘history’.
Completing the rout: Emmanuel Eboue rounds Porto keeper Helton
It is more than 30 years since Arsenal last overturned a first-leg
deficit in Europe and Wenger will take great joy from this when his
young side ended that particular run in the absence of the injured Cesc
Fabregas and William Gallas.
Confidence will certainly be high at Arsenal after this. After the
manner in which Arshavin destroyed Porto down their left side and the
manner in which Thomas Vermaelen and Sol Campbell marshalled the
defence.
That said, the presence of Manuel Almunia in place of the error-prone Lukasz Fabianski also made a significant difference.
Solo stunner: Nasri fires home after mazy run to make it three for Arsenal
Keen to regain control of this tie as soon as they could, Arsenal
started with real purpose. Their football was fast, fluent and executed
with real ferocity and Porto could do little to contain them.
Bendtner went close to scoring when Gael Clichy sent in a teasing
cross from the left — the Frenchman’s ball just eluded the towering
Dane — and Arshavin forced a fine save from Helton when he met a fine
delivery from Bacary Sagna with a close-range header.
But Helton could do nothing to deny Bendtner in the 10th minute
after right back Fucile diverted the ball past him in an effort to beat
the advancing Arshavin to a super pass forward from Nasri.
The ball spun into the path of Bendtner and the young Arsenal
striker shrugged off the challenge of two Porto defenders to score with
ease.
Make mine a double: Nicklas Bendtner wheels away after firing his second of the evening
If Wenger was delighted to see his prediction come true, he would
have been less impressed with his side’s failure to quickly add a
second.
They had their opportunities, not least in the form of an effort
from Abou Diaby and a cross from Arshavin that flashed across the face
of Porto’s goal. But Diaby missed and there was nobody in position to
make the most of Arshavin’s brilliance.
Until, that is, the hapless Fucile committed another clanger in the
26th minute, this time in the form of a clearance that went straight to
Arshavin. First the little Russian beat the full back, then Nuno Coelho
before presenting Bendtner with a second opportunity to score into an
empty net.
Now, presumably, Porto were starting to panic as much as the bookies
who gave Bendtner odds of 40-1 to score a hat-trick — perhaps Wenger
had put on a fiver.
At full stretch: Bendtner opens the scoring
It was actually Arshavin who had a touch of the goalmouth jitters.
He too should have scored in the 34th minute when Nasri accelerated
into the Porto box and cut the ball back for his team-mate, but
Arshavin blasted his shot over the bar when a simple pass into the net
would have done the job.
Wenger must have cursed at such philanthropy, because then it would
have taken only one Porto goal to level the tie. A goal that very
nearly came when Hulk cut in from the right and forced Almunia to make
a decent save.
Shortly before the break and Bendtner had two more chances, forcing
saves from Helton with a header and a long-range shot. He also got
booked for a rash challenge on Fucile, proving that that he still has
much to learn.
Nasri tested Helton after the interval and so did Arshavin, adding
to Wenger’s concerns since Hulk was proving dangerous down the flanks.
Falcao might have scored had it not been for Almunia and Nasri then
cleared a header off the line.
