Arsenal had to work hard to beat visiting team Shakhtar Donetsk with a narrow score of 1-0. Mikel Arteta’s troops had quite a hard time with Shakhtar’s defensive defense.
Tuesday, October 22, 2024, Arsenal hosted Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates Stadium in matchday 3 of the 2024/2025 Champions League. The match was quite fierce, the away team’s resistance had made Arsenal struggle.
This time, Arsenal immediately tried to dominate from the start of the match, but the away team knew how to fight back. The Gunners’ attacks were easily broken in the first 15 minutes.
In the 29th minute, Arsenal took the lead. Shakhtar goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk made a blunder of an own goal. Martinelli’s shot hit the post, the rebound touched Riznyk’s body and turned into an empty goal. Goal! Arsenal 1-0 Shakhtar.
The lead made Arsenal play more freely. Until the end of the first 45 minutes, the Gunners had recorded 8 attempted shots, although they had only scored one goal.
In the second half, Arsenal’s dominance continued. Shakhtar only occasionally got a chance to counterattack, and even then it was not really threatening. 60 minutes into the match.
In the 75th minute, Arsenal was awarded a penalty. Leandro Trossard stepped up as the executioner and failed! His shot was guessed, Riznyk made an important save. The score remained 1-0.
Fortunately, Arsenal then maintained their dominance to continue to maintain their lead in the remaining 15 minutes of the match. The final score was 1-0.
Gabriel Martinelli deserves to be called the best player aka man of the match Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk. He was directly involved in the goal process for the Gunners’ narrow 1-0 victory.
Martinelli was trusted to play as a left winger in this match and he played his role well. Although he didn’t carry the ball much, Martinelli was able to make 4 key passes to create opportunities.
Martinelli’s movement in this match was very efficient. He only made 38 touches of the ball and took 2 shots, one of which became a goal.
UEFA’s Technical Observer Panel chose Martinelli as the official man of the match. “He played a key role in the decisive goal. He provided a constant attacking threat, an excellent work ethic and a strong defense.”
