Chinese soccer star Sun Xiang was of great help to PSV Eindhoven in
getting past Arsenal with an aggregate 2-1 victory, allowing PSV to
accede to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday
alongside Italy's AC Milan, England's Manchester United and Bayern
Munich of Germany.
Eindhoven ousted Premiership powerhouse Arsenal on Wednesday
after a 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium was sufficient to send the
Dutch side to the next round thanks to a 2-1 aggregate score.
The win marks a measure of revenge for the Dutch who were
unceremoniously dumped out of the tournament by the Londoners in
2004.
With Arsenal hero Thierry Henry benched for the game, manager
Arsene Wenger elected to play Fredrik Ljungberg upfront. The home
side played hard to secure the saving goal but was unable to find
their way past a dogged PSV defense.
The stalemate was finally broken in the 57th minute when PSV
defender Alex turned the ball into his own net. Baying for blood,
Arsenal poured forward, looking to kill the game off.
Koeman's men continued to ward off any attacks until Chinese
star Sun Xiang came off the bench and quickly secured a free kick
which turned Alex from zero to hero as he buried his shot in the
83rd minute.
Accompanying PSV to the last eight will be AC Milan and
Manchester United who respectively saw off Scotland's Glasgow
Celtic and France's Lille.
Bayern Munich also went through on away goals after seeing off
Spain's Real Madrid 4-4.
?
They will round out the quarter-finals which have already welcome
Valencia, AS Roma and Premiership duo Liverpool and
Chelsea.?
(CRI March 8, 2007)
