How Arsenal's defensive pair silenced Dortmund's thunderous attack

All the pre-match talk was of Jurgen Klopp’s thunderous Borussia Dortmundside and the German coach’s charismatic charm. Their exciting brand of football matched with their success driven by passion and raw talent, instead of money, is appealing to the neutral. An English team had never won in the Westfalenstadion until last night. Aaron Ramsey scored his 11th goal of a successful season to give the Gunners an unlikely victory in Germany.

Arsene Wenger’s ‘orchestra’ were on song last night and kept out the rampageous Dortmund attack of Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Robert Lewandowski. Two main reasons for that were Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, who’ve formed a dominating partnership.

In the last 120 minutes of football the Arsenal pair have stopped Daniel Sturridge,Luis Suarez and Dortmund’s trio from scoring.

Arsenal, since the Invincibles of 2004/2005 have struggled defensively. That now looks to be over with the French-German central defensive partnership.

The Gunners have conceded just three goals in the group stages of the Champions League this season, thanks mainly to Koscielny and Mertesacker, whose partnership is now keeping Thomas Vermaelen – the club captain – out of the side. Two of those goals came in one match so two clean sheets in four games, in a group as difficult as Arsenal’s, is seriously impressive.

Per Mertesacker Squawka Man of the Match v Dortmund

Not only was Mertesacker an imposing figure in defence, he almost scored Arsenal’s second after he missed his. He won 80% of his duels last night; only Mesut Ozil and Koscielny had a higher percentage.

Per Mertesacker Duels v Dortmund

The giant German won both of his tackles and two out of three headed duels.

His partner, Koscielny, was equally as dominating, winning his only headed duel, intercepting three times and making six clearances. The Frenchman’s passing was superb, too, completing 91% of 47 attempted passes. Only Mikel Arteta was more successful.

Laurent Koscielny Passes v Dortmund

Wenger will have been patting all of his players on the back last night after a performance that will live long in the memory, but hugs will have been received by Koscielny and Mertesacker as, without his central defensive pairing, Arsenal would have been staring down the barrel of a Champions League exit.