Arsenal secured a place in the 1/8 finals by beating Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium (3-0). Fabio Cannavaro’s first match in charge of Plavi ended in defeat.
The 2006 Ballon d’Or team was only tied for 105 seconds, when Gabriel Martinelli overflowed on the left for the Gunners and addressed a center to Kai Havertzwhich the German amortized for Declan Ricewho beat him Ivan Nevistić of the head.
Gabriel’s effort almost doubled the advantage 15 minutes later, but it went just wide, as Arsenal looked more dangerous than ever from corners.
Shaken by the early goal, the Croatian champions found their feet in defense as the half wore on, proving effective enough to counter attempts to Raheem SterlingHavertz and Rice.
During his rare forays outside his penalty area, the Dinamo used Martin Baturina at full throttle on the counter-attack, but David Raya was not worried.
The men of Mikel Arteta had another chance to double the lead late in the half, but Nevistić was well placed to repel Martinelli’s attempt.
-Arsenal were one goal away from winning three consecutive C1 matches by at least two goals for the first time but, despite their territorial domination, they struggled to find the fault in Dinamo’s dogged defense after the break.
This was the case until the 66th minute, when a cross from Martinelli was met by Havertz, who gave the goalkeeper no chance with his head, allowing the Gunners to lead 2-0 with only the third shot on target of the match.
They kept up the pressure in the final minutes and this perseverance was rewarded in injury time, when Leandro Trossard found space on the left and his deflected cross was caught by Martin Ødegaard.
With this eighth home victory and this eighth clear round in C1 since the start of last season, the Gunners occupy third place in the standings and are three points ahead of ninth place. Dinamo slips to 26th place, two points from 24th before the final day, and remains winless on English soil.
