AC Milan put on a clinic at San Siro on Wednesday during a 4-0 win against the English Premier League’s Arsenal, in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League’s round of 16. Arsenal’s inability to setup scoring chances led to the Italian side attacking throughout the entire match, giving AC Milan a comfortable lead going into the second leg of the round.

“We were never in the game, and it was a big shock,” said Arsenal head coach Arsene Wenger in a postgame interview.

Tomas Rosicky gave the first scoring attempt to Arsenal, but was unable to make good contact with the shot leading to him missing the net widely. Kevin-Prince Boateng started off the scoring for AC Milan after volleying the ball underneath the crossbar on his first touch in the fifteenth minute of play.

Twenty minutes later, Zlatan Ibrahimovic walked the ball in from the left side of the field and easily crossed the ball to Robinho, who nodded the ball into the bottom right corner to increase AC Milan’s lead to 2-0.

Early substitutions by Arsene Wenger led to Johan Djourou and Thierry Henry coming into the match for Arsenal for the start of the second half. But the changes in the line-up would not effect Arsenal’s attacking ability, leading to Robinho scoring his second goal of the night for AC Milan four minutes into the second half.

Robin van Persie gave Arsenal their only close chance at getting a goal in the match, but AC Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati was able to sprawl out and make the save and protect his clean sheet. Arsenal prevented any chance of coming back from behind when Ibrahimovic was brought down in the box and rewarded a penalty. This led to AC Milan’s fourth and final goal of the night in the 79^th minute of play.

“Our defense was slow to read the game and slow to respond,” said Wenger, “we must regroup and prepare ourselves for the next game.” Arsenal will be hosting AC Milan at the Emirates Stadium on March 6, in the second leg of the tournament between the two teams.

Image Courtesy of Matt Trommer / Shutterstock.com

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Zenit St. Petersburg were able to come away with a late win at the bone-chilling Stadion Petrovskiy in a 3-2 victory over Benfica in their first leg in the Champions League’s round of 16, giving them a tiny lead going da Luz in March. It was a hard-fought battle, but the -10 degree weather seemed to take its toll on the Portuguese side and give the advantage to the hometown team Zenit.

“Our team has great character and incredible heart,” said Zenit head coach Luciano Spalletti in a post game interview, “we did what we were planning to do, what we were supposed to do, despite the poor condition of the pitch Benfica was the first team on the scoreboard after Maxi Pereira was able to score in the 20^th minute off a rebound after a free-kick that seemed to slip out of the Zenit goalkeepers hands.

Roman Shirokov was able to tie the game up for Zenit seven minutes later after an amazing volley that he received from a crossing pass. The goal was the last goal of the half, but both teams had several scoring chances before the halftime whistle was blown. After several more chances from both sides at the beginning of the second half. Sergei Semak was able to give Zenit the lead in the 71^st minute with a beautiful back-heel shot that tricked the Benfica goalkeeper and rolled into the bottom left corner.

Fifteen minutes later, Benfica was able to tie the game up after another error from the Zenit goalkeeper which led to Oscar Cardozo picking up the dropped ball and putting it in the back of the net. Both teams pushed hard for the goal that would give them the one-goal lead going into the second leg, but Zenit would be the only team to capitalize thanks to Shirokov scoring his second goal of the night one minute after Benfica tied the game up.

“We changed the course of the match, scoring the winning goal,” said Spalletti, “we have to get that in the return match. I leave that for the match in Lisbon.” Benfica will host Zenit on March 6 at da Luz, in the second leg of the tournament between the two teams.

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