Arsenal 1-2 Dortmund: Lewandowski strikes late

Robert Lewandowski brought Arsenal down to earth with a late winner as Borussia Dortmund recorded a 2-1 victory in last night’s Champions League Group F clash at the Emirates Stadium.

Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring Dortmund's second goal. Picture: Getty

Scorers: Arsenal - Giroud (41); Borussia Dortmund - Mkhitaryan (16), Lewandowski (82)

The Barclays Premier League leaders had done well to fight back from going behind to on 16 minutes when Henrikh Mkhitaryan drilled the ball in after Aaron Ramsey had given away the ball on the edge of the box.

Olivier Giroud’s close-range strike sent the teams into the break on level terms However, all of the Gunners’ efforts 
were undone as Dortmund – last season’s beaten Champions League finalists – netted with just eight minutes left on 
the counter-attack through Lewandowski to ruin Arsene Wenger’s 64th birthday and leave the Gunners still with work to do to qualify for the knockout stages.

Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp watched on from the stands serving his UEFA touchline ban and saw his side take the lead on 16 minutes. Ramsey was hustled out of possession by Reus on the edge of his own penalty area, with the ball fed to Lewandowski. The Pole played in Mkhitaryan, who smashed a low shot past Wojciech Szczesny from 15 yards.

Arsenal, though, were level five minutes before the break. when Bacary Sagna overlapped and his cross caught out Neven Subotic and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller, with the mix-up allowing Giroud to smash in the loose ball.

Arsenal were within inches of taking the lead when Cazorla’s curled effort from 20 yards struck the angle of post and crossbar. But Dortmund hit them on the counter attack with eight minutes left. The ball was played out to right-back Kevin Grosskreutz on the overlap and his deep cross drifted over towards the far post, where Lewandowski arrived on queue to swept it past Szczesny.

With Napoli winning in Marseille, the Gunners are now locked in a three-way scrap for qualification.

Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Ramsey (Bendtner 86), Arteta, Wilshere (Cazorla 58), Ozil, Rosicky (Gnabry 89), Giroud. Subs not used: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Monreal, Jenkinson.

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Grosskreutz, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer,Bender, Sahin, Blaszczykowski (Aubameyang 67), Mkhitaryan (Hofmann 66),Reus (Papastathopoulos 87), Lewandowski. Subs not used: Langerak, Kirch, Schieber, Durm.