Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal can use their march into the FA Cup semi-finals as a springboard to mount a near-superhuman comeback in their Champions League tie at Bayern Munich tomorrow.
Wenger’s side cruised into the last four of the FA Cup for the first time since 2009 thanks to their 4-1 win over Everton on Saturday.
That stroll in the spring sunshine in north London should serve as a morale-booster ahead of the far more daunting task of trying to overturn a 2-0 deficit in their last-16 second-leg clash with reigning European champions Bayern in German giants’ backyard.
Photo: EPA
“It was important for us to win on a psychological front for a good mind,” Wenger said. “We can be inspired by our focus of the day and we need that same desire to go to Bayern with the same spirit. The statistics are against us going to Bayern, but we have to make sure the performance goes for us.”
Arsenal, who beat Bayern at the Allianz Arena at the same stage of the competition last season, but still bowed out on away goals, face an uphill task to keep their European hopes alive as their Premier League title charge appears to be fading. Yet Saturday’s FA Cup success means they are at least still on course to end their nine-year trophy drought.
On Saturday, Mesut Ozil’s early opener against Everton was canceled out by Romelu Lukaku, but there was no way back for the Merseyside club once Mikel Arteta converted a penalty against his old club and substitute Olivier Giroud added the gloss to the win with two goals.
Wenger reserved praise for Ozil, who will return to Germany with a point to prove. Arsenal’s record-signing has struggled since the turn of the year and was even jeered by his country’s supporters in their friendly win over Chile last week. However, during Saturday’s drubbing, he snapped a three-month goal drought and turned in an improved display, suggesting that he has turned the corner.
“It’s important for him as you want him to take his chances,” Wenger said “He always looks for a good pass. What I liked from him is he looked physically regenerated and he did a lot of dirty work. He tracked back with long runs.”
Everton’s best chance this season now lies in winning a spot in the Europa League.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but