Borussia Dortmund vs Arsenal: Arsene Wenger's orchestra is hitting the right notes

Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil – Striking the right chords

Remember Rocky IV? Remember the last bout where Sylvester Stallone had to go up against the humongous Ivan Drago from Russia? Remember how the five feet something boxer from Philadelphia fought against all odds to secure a win against the seven feet monster?

The game between Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, last night, was the closest depiction of that boxing bout on a football field. With a capacity of 65,000, the Westfalenstadion was a sea of yellow and black with about 3000 away Arsenal fans tucked around in some corner. If Dortmund depicted the domination, the might and the strength of Ivan Drago, the stadion surely felt like the Russian arena that could intimated any opposition. But it was Arsenal who displayed the grit, determination and the hunger of Rocky to perform a smart smash and grab job to secure an unexpected win.

Arsenal won. Yes, they did, yet again! One of the most anticipated clashes of the season saw the Gunners take on the Bundesliga heavyweights Borussia Dortmund and the Premier League leaders came out on top thanks to an Aaron Ramsey header.

Ramsey scores, Arsenal wins – that’s been the pattern this season, hasn’t it? He passes, he defends, he scores, he assists – there’s nothing that Ramsey can’t do this season and as the young Welshman grows in stature with every game, Arsene Wenger’s side keeps delivering performances that not many would have expected from them after their disastrous start against Aston Villa.

After being beaten in the dying moments at the Emirates a fortnight ago, an away loss would have left the Gunners in a sticky position in the race of qualifying from the group of death. With their last game scheduled at Naples, they needed at least a point from this tough fixture and Dortmund had no intentions to make it any easy for the north London side.

The German team started the game with their usual high intensity, pressing for every inch and pegged Arsenal back by restricting their free flowing passing game. They maintained a high line and contained Arsenal in their own half for the better part of the first forty five minutes.

Arsene Wenger knew what was coming and Arsenal planned to hit Dortmund on the counter. However, there were scarcely a chance to push the ball up as the Dortmund players hounded the men in red and white in numbers and flooded their half with yellow and black.

The first half was a battle of attrition that saw a tough midfield battle between two very talented units. Dortmund pressed hard but Arsenal held out owing to some disciplined defensive work from their creative players and the ever reliable Mikel Arteta. The Arsenal captain sat in front of the back two and tried to diffuse the attacking threat that Dortmund possessed. Still, despite the solid defensive shift put in by the Arsenal midfield, Dortmund had the better of the exchanges in the first half and had Henrikh Mkhitaryan seized the moment, the story could have gone entirely a different way.

However, the second half saw Jurgen Klopp’s team get into their “heavy metal” mode. They got off the blocks real quick and threw the kitchen sink at Arsenal. Mkhitaryan and Marco Reus notched up a gear and ran havoc in the Arsenal defence. But Dortmund failed to capitalize on their chances and Arsenal survived a nervy spell.

That fifteen minute spell defined the game. It was like when Drago went for the kill and all Rocky could do was to defend and take the hit. Arsenal did the same. There was a moment in that bout when Rocky returned to his corner bruised badly after a severe beating and said that he saw not one but three of Ivan Dragos in the ring. During that attacking spell from Dortmund, Arsenal too felt the same. The Germans seemed to have an extra man everywhere and Mkhitaryan kept popping up with all the space at his disposal. Robert Lewandowski looked menacing while Reus struck a good partnership with “Kuba” B?aszczykowski to torture Kieran Gibbs.

Dortmund attacked with all might and lashed waves of attack at the Arsenal defence but Wenger’s men kept their gloves up, felt the punches and absorbed the entire sting.

Arsene Wenger: Has he finally got his pitch correct?

And then it happened.

After defending the incoming punches, Arsenal found a moment of weakness and slipped in the jab. Around the 62nd minute mark, Arsenal cleared a loose ball that set Tomas Rosicky on his way. He played a neat one-two with Ramsey and reached the Dortmund box. Rosicky miss-passed but the defender was generous enough to hand it back to him. Rosicky rolled it to his right where Mesut Ozil arrived with some space in front.

The German looked up and scooped the ball into the box. Although the ball wasn’t one of the best deliveries from Ozil, Olivier Giroud, who had an average game, leaped, got to it and somehow nodded it back into the danger zone. And there was Ramsey waiting like a poacher. He got to the ball and headed it in to give the Gunners the lead.

That was it. Suddenly Dortmund looked vulnerable and Arsenal were the better side and they almost found a second one through that man, Ramsey again. Roman Weidenfeller denied the Welshman but Arsenal had done enough for the night. In the closing moments, Dortmund came hard at Arsenal but the pair of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker stood like a rock to deny the Germans any hope of a comeback.

There’s been a lot said about this Arsenal side. A few think, this is the revival of the north Londoners while for the rest, they haven’t done enough. Yes, they still need an all out attacking forward, Gibbs still looks a tad vulnerable and of course, Lisbon is too far off and there are bigger challenges on the way.

However, something has changed about this Arsenal side. They always knew how to play the attractive brand of football but this side knows how to stand firm and grind out three points even on the not-so-fluent days. There are still anxious moments for the back four, at times, but the entire team somehow has drawn out an extra mile on the big nights, till now.

Just like last night, the heavy metal made a lot of noise, beat their drums loud and strummed their guitars hard but the orchestra silently hit the correct notes and produced yet another memorable symphony!