Arsenal's European campaign is in trouble following a disappointing 3-1 defeat at home to Monaco in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie Wednesday night at the Emirates Stadium.Monaco, missing a number of key players, entered the match as underdogs but took the lead in the 38th minute via Geoffrey Kondogbia's deflected shot. The visitors added a second on the counter in the 53rd minute, with former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov finishing the move.Arsenal, meanwhile, wasted several good opportunities, especially in the second half. Olivier Giroud was especially profligate, fluffing multiple chances before being subbed off on the hour mark. The Gunners finally pulled a goal back in stoppage time through substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco added Monaco's thirdagain on the countermoments later.The result leaves Arsene Wenger's side with plenty of work to do in the second leg, which isscheduled for Tuesday, March 17, at Monaco's Stade Louis II. In addition to making up a two-goal deficit, the Gunners will have to score at least three goals to nullify Monaco's three away strikes.Arsenal have a long history of reaching the Champions League knockout stages, advancing to this point of the competition in each of the last 15 seasons, per the officialChampions LeagueTwitter account.But the Gunners have been knocked out in the round of 16 each of the last four years, having drawn Barcelona, AC Milan and Bayern Munichtwicein consecutive seasons.This season, the Champions League had seemed to offer an unexpected opportunity for glory, with the Gunners 12 points off the pace in the Premier League and facing a tricky trip to Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-finals. After finishing second in their group behind Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal received what the Guardian's Alistair Tweedale called a "favourable draw" against Monaco in the round of 16.But Monaco proved anything but pushovers in the first leg, displaying excellent organisation and defending resolutely against Arsenal after the hosts started the match brightly. And with three away goals in hand, the Ligue 1 side provided themselves with a fine platform for winning the tie in the second leg.Even so, Arsenal will still believe they have a chance with attacking talents likeAlexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil in the squad.Up next for Arsenal is a home match against Everton on Sunday in the Premier League. Currently third in the table, the Gunners will need a good result against the Toffees to maintain their push for a top-four finish and another season of Champions League football.Monaco, currently fourth in Ligue 1, host second-placed Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.Arsenal started the match at a high tempo, showing plenty of attacking intent. But Monaco defended well, limiting the hosts to only a handful of half-chances.In the second minute, Arsenal's Danny Welbeck chased down a clipped pass from Francis Coquelin, held the ball up and turned his defender before shooting over from a tight angle. Nine minutes later, the Gunners appealed for a handballagainst Wallace as the Monaco man held off Ozil in the box. Replays showed that the ball hit Wallace's hand, but referee Deniz Aytekin was not in position to see it.Monaco soon began to attack, and in the 19th minute,Joao Moutinho rolled a shot wide of the post from outside the box. Two minutes later,centre-back Aymen Abdennour made a strong run through Arsenal's midsection before veering to the left side of the box. Abdennour crossed back into the middle, but the ball sailed too close to Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina, who collected easily.In the 24th minute, Giroud headed wide from aSanchez corner. Nine minutes later, Sanchez fired over from a good position inside the box.Trouble was brewing for the Gunners, with Moutinho volleying over the target in the 35th minute from an Anthony Martial cross. Three minutes later, Monaco took the lead.It was little more than the visitors deserved for an excellent overall performance, but the goal owed more than a little to good fortune. In the 38th minute, Moutinho rolled a routine pass to Kondogbia in the middle of the pitch, well outside the box. Kondogbia tried his luck from long range, and his shot deflected off Per Mertesacker past goalkeeper David Ospina for the opening goal.With that, Monaco had a vital away goal and a 1-0 lead heading into half-time. Within moments of the restart, however, Arsenal nearly pulled level. Running onto a Cazorla pass on the right, Sanchez poked the ball past Abdennour, raced to the byline and crossed into the middle for Giroud. The French striker mistimed his attempted volley and the ball deflected wide of the post off his planted leg.Giroud missed another chance in the 52nd minute, heading over from an unmarked position after rising highest to meet a Cazorla free-kick.One minute later, Monaco doubled their lead on the counter.Fabinho started the move, winning the ball near the edge of his own box and holding off a challenge from Sanchez before passing to Martial on the left. Left alone by Mertesacker, Martial cut inside and laid off for Berbatov, who had plenty of time to pick his spot and beat Ospina for a 2-0 Monaco lead.Arsenal had another chance to score in the 57th minute, but again Giroud proved wasteful. Sanchez forced a save with a fierce shot from the right, but Danijel Subasic spilled the rebound into the path of Giroud, who skied his shot over the bar from close range.Monaco nearly made it 3-0 in the 61st minute. Nabil Dirar cut inside from the right flank, passing to Moutinho, who backheeled into the path of Martial in space. Martial seemed destined to score, but Ospina came off his line alertly to block.Another chance followed for the home side in the 64th minute as Sanchez played a fine pass through to substitute Theo Walcott. After controlling the ball deftly, Walcott saw his shot saved at close range. The rebound rolled to Welbeck, whose second effort deflected off Walcott and over the bar.Having introduced Walcott in the 60th minute, Wenger then brought on Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tomas Rosicky in an attempt to pull back a late goal to give Arsenal hope for the second leg.In the 82nd minute, Sanchez scuffed a mishit volley wide of the near post following a corner. One minute from time, the Chilean won possession in Monaco's box before forcing a save from an extremely tight angle.As the match reached stoppage time, the Gunners finally found the back of the net. Following a failed clearance from the home side, Oxlade-Chamberlain collected the ball outside the box, sidestepped a defender and curled an unstoppable shot past Subasic for a much-needed consolation goal.But the night was not finished. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Monaco grabbed another goal, hitting Arsenal on the counter again.After Oxlade-Chamberlain gave away possession in midfield, Bernardo Silva played a simple pass to Ferreira-Carrasco on the right. Outrunning the defence, Ferreira-Carrasco slotted his shot past Ospina and in off the far post to send Monaco within touching distance of the quarter-finals.GradesReactionMonaco striker Dimitar Berbatov via Sky Sports (h/t BBC Sport):We are confident in our ability so honestly we deserved to win. We scored our chances and in the end it's a great win for us. It's not over, we have one more game in Monaco and Arsenal are a great team.We are good. Arsenal is a good team but today probably we wanted the win more than them, We fought all over the pitch, won our challenges and scored the goals.In a team like Arsenal I don't think they can allow themselves to underestimate our team today but if they did then it's up to them.Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, via BBC Sport:The third goal makes our task extremely difficult in the second leg. It looks like we lost our nerve and our rationality on the pitch. The heart took over the head and that doesn't work. Mentally we were not sharp enough to get into the game, and we paid for it.In the first 20 minutes we could have won the game, but Monaco are strong physically. We missed our chances - look at the number we missed tonight. At that level we cannot afford to do that.I hope my players were not complacent, but it looks when you are lacking sharpness that anything is possible. Football is not on paper, it's down to your performance. On the night Monaco produced a performance and we didn't.Giroud had an off night tonight and he missed easy chances. It looked like it was not one of his best days.Follow @MiguelCominguezRead more World Football news on BleacherReport.com
Click here to read full news..
