Petr Cech has insisted that Arsenal can still qualify for the Champions League knockout rounds and has promised that the team will fight until the end in what promises to be a cup final against Olympiakos in Athens.
Arsenal were battered 5-1 at Bayern Munich on Wednesday night to leave their hopes of reaching the second stage for the 16th season in succession hanging by a thread.
The north London club know that they must beat Dinamo Zagreb at home and then Olympiakos away while they must also rely on Bayern to win against Olympiakos at home in the next round of ties. On Wednesday’s evidence, it is impossible not to see that happening. “If Bayern play like they did against us, they will beat Olympiakos,” Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said.
Arsenal have already lost to both Zagreb and Olympiakos which, more than the Bayern thrashing, has put them in their predicament. But Cech refuses to believe that all is lost, even if the mission to Athens will be difficult. Having lost 3-2 at home to Olympiakos, they are likely to have to win by two goals to force the better head-to-head record, which is the first tie-breaker, ahead of goal difference.
“We will fight until the last minute,” Cech said.”We can win both games and go head to head with Olympiakos. We go to Greece with a final to play. We still have a chance. It has been a tough time in the group but now we have to make sure that we win our games and that the head to head against Olympiakos is in our favour. It is still possible.
“This was not the result we wanted against Bayern but the situation in our group doesn’t change in that we would still have had to win in Greece. We are still in the same position.”
Cech sifted through the wreckage of the Bayern defeat in the search for positives and he came up with a couple, namely Arsenal’s decent opening 10 minutes and how they kept fighting in the second half. But, like Wenger, he accepted that they could not defend as they did and expect to emerge unscathed.
“We need to do better defensively and be more aggressive because we allowed them too much time on the ball,” Cech said. “To win games, you need to make sure you get everything in your favour.”
The overriding emotion of the evening was the sense of awe that Bayern’s clinical performance had inspired and Cech could not and did not fail to acknowledge it. The German champions enjoyed their revenge for the 2-0 loss at the Emirates Stadium two weeks previously.
“When we beat Bayern 2-0, everyone said maybe they are not great,” Cech said. “In this game, they were absolutely magnificent. They have everything to win the Champions League. They played really well and we didn’t. They were superior to us in every single way.
“You sometimes have to accept that a team is better than you on the night. They were more determined having lost at the Emirates and the better team won. We have to take it on the chin and get ready for the next two games and take six points.”
