Arsenal Rise To Beat Shakhtar Donetsk Through Goalkeeper's Suicide Goal

JAKARTA - Arsenal immediately returned to winning ways when they competed in the Champions League. Only Arsenal had to work hard and narrowly win 1-0 over Shakhtar Donetsk through an own goal in a duel at the Emirates Stadium, London, Wednesday, October 23, 2024 in the morning WIB.

Arsenal played under performance when they lost captain Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. It was actually seen when Arsenal had to admit Bournemouth's 2-0 lead in the Premier League England competition.

The defeat to the mid-table team at least disrupted Arsenal's preparations to host Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. In that match, Arsenal again experienced difficulties and failed to show their best performance.

Luckily, goalkeeper Dmytro Riznyk's own goal made Arsenal win their second victory from three matches in the Champions League. The result made the Gunners pocket seven points and move up to fourth place. Two points adrift with Aston Villa who won the top spot in the Champions League standings.

Meanwhile, Shakhtar is stuck in 29th place without ever winning from three games making this Ukrainian team only collect one point.

Manager Mikel Arteta said Arsenal should have scored more goals. The reason is, they created many chances, especially in the first half. However, nothing can be converted into goals except from Riznyk's suicide.

"We created four good chances (in the first half). We should have been able to convert it and make sure to win from the start," said Arteta.

"In the second half, we had difficulties. We looked exhausted and lost our sharpness either when we controlled the ball or when we lost the ball," he said.

Meanwhile, coach Shakhtar Marino Pusic admitted that he was disappointed with the defeat. According to him Shakhtar should have been able to take points at the Emirates

"In my opinion, we deserve a draw. We have tried hard to equalize the score until the end of the match. We have done our best," said Pusic.

In that match, Arsenal actually showed dominance over their opponents. They put pressure on and created a number of chances. Including Brazil's duo, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus, who failed to convert the chances they got.

Arsenal's deadlock was finally resolved when Martinelli's shot that hit the post made the ball rebound and hit Riznyk's body and slid into the net himself. He actually tried to reach the ball, but failed to put Arsenal 1-0 up.

The hosts have the opportunity to add goals towards the end of the first half. However, Kai Havertz's action could still be thwarted by captain Mykola Matviyenko. The score of one goal lasted until halftime.

Entering the second half, Arsenal remained in control of the game. Despite dominating, the Gunners attack always meets a deadlock.

Arsenal again had a golden opportunity to increase their advantage. In the 77th minute, defender Valeriy Bondar was judged to have touched the ball in the forbidden box. The referee briefly reviewed the incident via VAR.

As a result, Bondar was confirmed to have a handball in the penalty box. Despite receiving protests from Bondar, the referee still decided to point to the spot.

Only Leandro Trossard's execution failed. Goalkeeper Riznyk precisely blocked the ball. Furthermore, no goals were scored, including Shakhtar Pedrinho's long-range kick which was brilliantly thwarted by goalkeeper David Raya. The final score remains 1-0 for Arsenal.