Champions League Match Review: Montpellier 1 - 2 Arsenal

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 18: Lukas Podolski of Arsenal celebrates scoring his teams first goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Montpellier Herault SC and Arsenal at Stade de la Mosson on September 18, 2012 in Montpellier, France. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Arsenal‘s Champions league season got underway at Montpellier’s Stade de la Mosson last night. This was Montpellier’s first ever Champions League fixture. The defending French champions have not had the best of starts in this season’s Ligue 1 campaign, but the vocal home support were certainly giving them their full backing. For Arsenal, Arsene Wenger was serving the first of his three-match touchline ban and was watching the game from the stands.

Starting Line-ups:

Montpellier: Geoffrey Jourdren, Garry Bocaly, Mapou Yanga M’Biwa, Victorino Hilton, Henri Bedimo, Marco Estrada, Jamel Saihi, Anthony Mounier, Younes Belhanda, Remy Cabella, Souleymane Camara

Arsenal: Vito Mannone, Carl Jenkinson, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs, Abou Diaby, Mikel Arteta, Gervinho, Santiago Cazorla, Lukas Podolski, Olivier Giroud.

The match had its first yellow card barely 25 seconds in, with Abou Diaby being the offender for a late sliding tackle. Early indications were that Arsenal wanted control of the midfield and were willing to be physical in their approach, with Arteta in particular looking really up for it.

Arsenal started brightly, controlling the tempo and the initial exchanges, but it was Montpellier who struck first in the 9th minute, somewhat against the run of play when Thomas Vermaelen fouled Younes Belhanda on the edge of the penalty box. The first reaction was that the penalty was a soft one, but replays showed that Vermaelen did not get the ball. Belhanda coolly dispatched the penalty and Montpellier had drawn first blood.

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 18: Mikel Arteta of Arsenal is tackled by Younes Belhanda of Montpellier during the UEFA Champions League match between Montpellier Herault SC and Arsenal at Stade de la Mosson on September 18, 2012 in Montpellier, France.

To Arsenal’s credit, they upped the tempo almost immediately with Cazorla starting to pull the strings and Jenkison and Gervinho linking up well on the right hand side. And they did not have to wait long, till the 16th minute to be exact, for the equalizer, with all of Arsenal’s summer signings involved – Cazorla threaded a pass up the middle to Giroud, who placed the ball neatly in the path of Podolski’s run and then there was only one place the ball was going to end up. The momentum was now with Arsenal and they made it tell just two minutes later, with Gervinho bundling in Jenkinson’s low cross from the right, past the Montpellier custodian. In a matter of just a couple of minutes, Arsenal had turned it around.

Predictably, Montpellier pushed up, with the enthusiastic Belhanda working his way into the Arsenal penalty area, but his shot was blocked by Mertesacker. Remy Cabella was also looking lively, and from a sweetly struck long range effort forced a fingertip save from Mannone. With half time approaching, Arsenal had a couple of half-chances of their own, but Gervinho scuffed his shot after good work from the left, and Giroud’s first attempt at goal sailed away harmlessly from the target.

Montpellier burst out of their blocks at the start of the second half and should have had their equalizer in the 47th minute. Diaby spent too much time on the ball near his own penalty area, allowing Cabella to pounce on him but he rushed his shot and missed the target. The French team were now pressing high up on the pitch, giving Arsenal very little time on the ball and the tactics were working. In the 54th minute, Mounier was found by a great long ball from the left but he did not keep his composure and his shot was well wide of Mannone’s goal in the end. Cabella was becoming more of a threat now, and in the very next minute, came closest to an equalizer with a delightful chip over the Arsenal keeper, but unluckily the shot cannoned off the bar. It was all Montpellier now, and Arsenal were barely hanging on. In a rare attack, Diaby made a driving run, and found Cazorla in the penalty area, but his shot was easily fended away by the French keeper.

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 18: Abou Diaby of Arsenal congratulates Lukas Podolski of Arsenal celebrates scoring his teams first goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Montpellier Herault SC and Arsenal at Stade de la Mosson on September 18, 2012 in Montpellier, France.

Arsenal were now content on slowing down the game, and keeping their lead intact. In the 76th minute, Aaron Ramsey came in for the out-of-sorts Giroud. But the chances were still coming the way of the French side. In the 80th minute, Belhanda found himself in the Arsenal penalty area with only the keeper to beat, but ended up directing his shot straight into the grateful hands of Mannone. Montpellier even had appeals for a penalty in the first minute of injury time, when Cabella went down in the Arsenal box, but this time the referee did not oblige, and rightly so.

So in the end, Arsenal held on and got the three points and the away goals they wanted, but a draw would have probably been a fair result, especially given the way Montpellier rallied in the second half.

The London side are not complaining though.