Arsenal grab away goal in draw with Villarreal
Emmanuel Adebayor grabbed a crucial away goal for Arsenal
Also In The News
|
England Test and one-day international captain Andrew Strauss has been left out of the 30-man squad for the World Twenty20 to be held on these shores later this year. |  |
Tuesday, 07, Apr 2009 11:42
Emmanuel Adebayor scored a spectacular second-half equaliser as Arsenal came away with a 1-1 draw against Villarreal in the Champions League.
Villarreal started brightly and Gonzalo Rodriguez almost bundled the ball home from close range, but Manuel Almunia did well to save the ball on his goal-line.
The Spanish side didn't have to wait too long to take the lead and the goal came from midfield maestro Senna, who unleashed a brilliant shot from 30 yards out which nestled in the top right-hand corner of the Arsenal goal.
The Gunners suffered another early blow as Almunia was forced to go off after picking up an ankle injury and was replaced by Lukas Fabianski.
Fabianski was called into action almost immediately as he pushed away another Senna effort from the edge of the box and then got up to superbly save the follow-up shot from Joan Capdevila.
Villarreal played the ball around well in the first-half and could have had a second as they worked space on the edge of the area but Cani fired wastefully wide.
There was more trouble for the Gunners before the break as William Gallas went of injured after suffering a nasty looking knee injury after a clash with Giuseppe Rossi.
Adebayor was hardly in the game but burst into life with a terrific equaliser for Arsenal. The striker took a ball from Cesc Fabregas on his chest and found the back of the net with an overhead volley.
The rest of the second-half was more of a cagy affair and the only other real decent effort on goal came from another long-range strike from Senna which went over the bar.
Arsenal will be delighted to come away with an away goal and will now be favourites to progress into the semi-finals.