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Arsenal won a hard-fought game against Athletic Club in the later part of the second half, owing to two brilliant goals that sealed a perfect start to the Champions League campaign for the English side. But there’s something gloomy about this one.
The desks at Emirates Stadium invested a whopping £257 million in the transfer window (net spend), and they certainly did not want to see the team they built struggle against a mid-table La Liga side for about 70 minutes. Yes, the goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard were brilliant and secured the points, but there’s more to take home from this win.
It must be put on record that one of the most hyped signings of the window, Viktor Gyökeres, did not live up to expectations on his first Champions League night for Arsenal.
He was expected to score at least once but ended up missing two big opportunities and creating none of his own. His substitute Trossard was instantly much better, assisting the first goal out of thin air and then scoring the second in similar fashion.
Unexpected game changers just saved Arsenal, despite £257m investment
Gyökeres played 65 minutes and had only one shot on target. That is an awful number for a world-class striker on a Champions League night who was in the Golden Boot race last season.
It is understandable that it will take time for him to settle into a new country and a different style of football, but I doubt it will come anytime soon.
Martin Zubimendi was another disappointment in this match. He lost possession a grand total of 11 times, which is plainly bad.
And it looks even worse considering he was an active La Liga player who faced Athletic Club twice every year until last season. Despite that, he looked outmatched and did practically nothing to make the team better.
The salvation from what could have been a bad game came from two household players who not long ago were not seen as reliable by the fans.
It is important to emphasize that Arsenal were one game away from cruising through to the Champions League final last season, and this time they must simply charge for the trophy.
There is no lesser target in mind, and though the first game of the campaign was ultimately won, it didn’t come the way it should have. It was not a comfortable win, and certainly not the way it was expected to arrive.