Arsenal vs FiorentinaWembley Stadium. Wednesday 27th October 1999UEFA Champions League, first group stage, match 5Preview
UEFA Champions League
Arsenal vs Fiorentina Wed Oct 28 1999
Result : Arsenal (0) 0 Fiorentina (0) 1
Scorers: Batistuta 75
Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Keown, Adams; Petit, Vieira,
Parlour, Overmars; Bergkamp, Kanu
Subs: Ljungberg (Parlour 56), Vivas (Petit 59),
Suker (Dixon 73), Henry, Silvinho, Upson, Manninger
Booked: Parlour, Petit, Adams
Fiorentina: Toldo, Di Livio, Repka, Fircano, Pierlini, Rossitto,
Heinrich, Rui Costa, Cois, Chiesa, Batistuta
Subs: Adani (Cois h-t), Taglialatela, Amor, Mijatovic, Okon,
Balbo, Bressan
Booked: Batistuta, Rossitto, Repka, Rui Costa
Att: 73336
Ref: Michel Lubos (Slovakia)
So Arsenal's Champions League campaign this season ends (bar a
meaningless postscript in Stockholm) in starkly similar circumstances to
last year. The parallels are remarkably close - failure to take more
than a point in two games against Fiorentina that we almost totally
dominated were what cost us qualification, as in 2 similar games against
Lens last year.
Fiorentina's spoiling tactics ensured that the game last night was scrappy, but Arsenal still created enough good chances to have won comfortably. 1st half: 1. Petit's corner finds Vieira beyond the far post, but having just won a wrestling match with a defender he seems to be off balance and completely miskicks with the goal at his mercy. 2. Parlour does well on the right and whips in a low hard cross which Kanu misses at the near post, and Bergkamp unmarked just behind him embarrassingly kicks air with only the keeper to beat. 3. Bergkamp's pass gives Kanu a half chance but his shot is deflected over the bar. 4. The ball breaks for Bergkamp wide in the left side of the area. He plays a pass virtually across the 6yd box, but just too far in front of Kanu at the near post and Petit at the far post. 5. Another poor Fiorentina pass reaches Bergkamp just outside the area and he chips an exquisite first time pass to find Kanu running in at the far post. The Nigerian strikes it on the half-volley but the ball flies over the bar from 8 yards. 2nd half: 6. Another beautiful Bergkamp chip into the box finds Kanu clear of the defence, but for once his touch lets him down and the ball runs away from him into Toldo's arms. 7. Overmars does superbly down the left and cuts a cross back into the middle towards Kanu who controls it before touching it back for the unmarked Bergkamp on the edge of the box. With time and space to aim the Dutch master puts in a foot or so wide. 8. Vieira's pass sends Bergkamp away down the middle, Repka's challenge a few yards outside the area bundles the Dutchman over. I didn't think it was the foul at the time, but the ref decided it was. Having made that decision he should surely have sent the defender off, but merely booked him instead. 9. Following a free kick the ball breaks for Vieira in the left side of the area. He chips back a lovely little cross which finds Keown on 6yd line, but his header goes tamely straight at Toldo. 10. Suker sets up Overmars on the edge of the box, but he drags a shot wide. 11. Vieira heads another Bergkamp chip wide. 12. Following another Bergkamp free kick Vieira fires in a shot from the edge of the box which deflects off a combination of Kanu and a defender on the 6yd line and ricochets out wide left. Suker runs in and strikes a tremendous shot from a narrow angle which hits the near post and bounces out. It hits Ljungberg in the midriff and drops for Kanu on the 6yd line. It seems he only has to knock it in but Toldo somehow anticipates and makes an unbelievable save. Of those I'd call 6 of them good chances. In contrast Fiorentina had 3 chances and another couple of dangerous moments. Batistuta did score a brilliant goal but it was the only chance he had all night, and he probably shouldn't have been on the pitch after his first minute foul on Dixon. In the second half they barely threatened at all, apart from that one fateful moment. Having said that I don't think Arsenal played very well, and no-one had a particularly good game, though no-one had a particularly bad one either. A lot of that was due to Fiorentina's constant spoiling tactics and the ref's willingness to use his whistle.
Seaman 7.0 The goal was the only shot on target Fiorentina had,
I personally think it would be harsh to blame it on
Seaman.
Dixon 7.0 Recovered well from Batistuta's assault on his ankles,
and did at least keep trying to get forward.
Winterburn 7.0 Made some typically good tackles in the 1st half, and
apart from the goal reasonably solid defensively.
Adams 7.0 Didn't have a great deal to do defensively.
Keown 7.0 Ditto.
Petit 7.0 A little off the pace early on, but got better as the
first half went on.
Parlour 7.0 Did reasonably well down the right, and ran as hard
as ever.
Vieira 7.5 Made a number of good runs forward.
Overmars 7.0 A strangely split personality sort of game. In the
first half he looked very lively, on one occasion
even doing a passable imitation of Nutty as he
harassed the opposition. His final ball was invariably
poor though. He did get one right in the 2nd half but
faded perhaps because there were always 2 or 3 men on
him.
Bergkamp 7.5 Didn't play as well as last week, but still was at the
heart of most of Arsenal's best moments. Unfortunately
on a couple of those he missed near open goals.
Kanu 7.0 Struggled most of the night to come to terms with the
close marking.
Ljungberg 7.0 Did a fairly good and busy job again.
Vivas 6.5 Looked quite good when he first came on but then
started giving the ball away, and I think was partly
to blame for the goal.
Suker Had little time to make much of an impact, and
strangely spent most of it wide on the right.
Derek
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