By KEVIN KOCZWARA
Aaron Ramsey’s sensational season for Arsenal continued on Wednesday.
Ramsey scored the only goal at the Westfalenstadion, giving Arsenal a 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in their UEFA Champions League group match. The Welsh midfielder scored shortly after the hour-mark and Arsenal held firm defensively to knock off the German giants.
The win over Dortmund puts Arsenal at the top of Group F with nine points. The Gunners are ahead of Napoli, which beat Marseille 3-2 on Wednesday, on goal differential.
Ramsey’s goal came in the 62nd minute after Mesuit Ozil looped a cross towards Dortmund’s back post, where Olivier Giroud was stationed to head the ball down to Ramsey for Arsenal’s first shot of the night. The goal was Ramsey’s 13th of the season in all competitions.
In Madrid, Atletico continued its impressive start to the season with a 4-0 thrashing of Austria Vienna, clinching a spot in the knockout rounds. Vienna, last in Group G, seemingly had no chance against an Atletico side that has only lost once this season in all competitions.
Atletico defender Miranda opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a left-footed shot following a corner and the home side never looked back. Atletico is now five points clear of Zenit St. Petersburg and Porto, which drew 1-1 earlier in the day, and look set to top Group F if they don’t lose their way in their final two games.
Barcelona took control of Group H with a 3-1 defeat of AC Milan thanks to a pair of goals from Lionel Messi, who emerged from a mini-scoring draught that lasted four games.
Messi’s brace against Milan puts him within six goals shy of the Champions League’s all-time goal-scorer Raul. The Argentine has scored 65 goals in the competition over his illustrious career.
Here’s a full rundown of Wednesday’s results:
Group E
Chelsea 2-0 Schalke 04
FC Basel 1-1 Steaua Bucuresti
Group F
Borussia Dortmund 0-1 Arsenal
Napoli 3-2 Marseille
Group G
Zenit St Petersburg 1-1 FC Porto
Atletico Madrid 4-0 Austria Vienna
Group H
Ajax 1-0 Celtic
Barcelona 3-1 AC Milan
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What did you think of these results? Which of these matches stood out to you? Impressed by Athletico Madrid’s early season form? Disappointed in Borussia Dortmund? Are Arsenal for real? And who will come out of Group F?
Share your thoughts below.
Since you’re getting paid to write words, can you please at least use the right ones?
..Messi, who emerged from a mini-scoring draught that lasted four games…
So would that be a scoring beer or scoring game of checkers? http://www.thefreedictionary.com/draught
Also nice dive by Neymar, trying to outdo Young’s from yesterday
um. he was spun. not tapped. bit of a difference. glad you weren’t officiating.
he was barely touched and went flying, that was a dive. you are on an island defending him on thisone
Island?
Not even Abiate complained–and he did it. He was beat and pulled him down–around the neck.
Abate most certainly did complain, he threw his hands up in the air as he was getting his yellow card. There was probably some contact but Neymar went flying far more than the minimal contact warrented. The guy is a diver, not sure how he keeps getting these calls
I had to rewind this several times, because I didn’t think it was a foul at first. There were from 2-3 angles that made it look like a dive, but there was one that showed definitively it was indeed a foul.
If Arsenal take care of business at home against Marseille they are in extremely good shape. Massive result for them
I don’t know if they can not qualify if they beat Marseille…? And if the other game is a draw, well, that settles it.
Hard to believe that one of Arsenal, Napoli, or Dortmund won’t make it out of the group stage. Ozil has been such a fantastic addition to Arsenal, I hope we can see him playing deep into the tournament