UCL: Berbatov Leads Monaco to a Stunning win against Arsenal

On a bizarre night in London, Arsenal find themselves on the cusp of yet another round of 16 Champions League elimination after losing 3-1 to a determined AS Monaco in the first leg at the Emirates.

Arsenal dominated possession but lacked penetration, and their confusion turned into chaos when France youngster Geoffrey Kondogbia put the team from the Principality in front with a deflected strike from 25 yards in the first- half.

Arsenal turned the screw insearch of an equalizer but striker Olivier Giroud was uncharacteristically wasteful considering his impressive
run of form since the turn of the year, missing a number of sitters as Monaco continued to contain the Gunners.

Dimitar Berbatov, on his return to North London, doubled the visitors’
advantage after the interval when rounded off a brilliant counter attack as Arsenal threw men forward.

Second-half substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gave the Gunners a lifeline with a stunner on 90 minutes, but their desperation turned to
misery when Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco blasted away to score Monaco’s third and leave them with a foot in the quarters.

Elsewhere, Bayer Leverkusen put up a brilliant show to upset last season’s finalists Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the Bayarena courtesy of a
superb strike from Turkish sensation Hakkan Calhanoglu in the 57th minute.

Leverkusen, struggling in the Bundesliga, were completely
dominant as they won their first ever game at this stage of the Champions League.

“This was a very, very good game from us,” said goalkeeper Bernd Leno. “We showed a reaction to the
criticism of the past week. We
had some bad games but tonight we bounced back.”

The return legs come up on March 17.