How Chelsea dominated Arsenal in the 2019 Europa League final
At the end of the 2018/19 season Arsenal would reach the Europa League final where they would be completely outplayed by London rivals Chelsea.
The man who would help power The Gunners to the 2019 final was manager Unai Emery who had already won a hat-trick of Europa League titles from 2014-2016, when previously in charge of Seville during only his three year tenure. Once the Spaniard departed terms with Arsenal in 2020 he went to Villarreal where he won his fourth Europa League title when his team destroyed Manchester United on penalties during the 2021 final following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.
Arsenal started the tournament at home welcoming Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava who would be ousted 4-2 at the Emirates. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted on both sides of the break being joined by his comrades Danny Welbeck and Mesut Ozil with a late goal in the final third of the match.
Next up The Gunners travelled to Eastern Europe and West Asia to tackle Qarabag aiming to make it six points in six. They would struggle to phase Arsenal who within four minutes went 1-0 up through a well timed effort from Sokratis, however Emery’s army would have to hold on till just before the hour mark for a second when Emile Smith Rowe rolled in his goal. Inside the final ten minutes Guendouzi tripled the advantage for a 3-0 walk in the park.
Emery’s army would make it three wins in three against 19 times Portuguese league champions Sporting Lisbon. At the Estadio Jose in Lisbon Arsenals resilience and perseverance would be tested with the Gunners having to fight hard for the winning goal inside the 78th minute from Welbeck who wrapped up the 1-0 victory.
The Boys from Highbury were already aware of the strength of Lisbon and would struggle hosting them at the Emirates. After 90 minutes only a mere 0-0 stalemate was achieved with Sporting Lisbon.
Out in Ukraine with less than 8,000 in attendance at the NSC Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, the North Londoners picked up another easy win. By halftime Emery’s barmy army were already three goals to the good after Smith Rowe found the target after 11 minutes, Aaron Ramsey slotting in a penalty before the half hour mark and Joe Willock sealing the 3-0 winning.
In the final group stage game a solo goal from Alex Lacazette secured the marginal 1-0 victory over Qarabag.
After six games Arsenal had finished top of Group E and three points over Sporting Lisbon behind them in the runner-up spot advancing to the knockout stages.
The round of 32 witnessed Arsenal pulled out the bag against Belarus team BATE Borisov containing once Arsenal striker Alex Hleb. In the first-leg the Yello Blues stunned the North Londoners going 1-0 up on aggregate after Drahum headed in the winner minutes before the halftime whistle. Back in N19 Emery and Arsenal were more eager than ever to overturn this deficit in their favour. The visitors handed The Gunners a much wanted early lead after four minutes after Volkov accidentally put the goal in the back of his net, with Arsenal pushing hard for the decisive goal to put them head on aggregate after Mustafi headed in a Granit Xhaka corner handing Arsenal a 2-1 lead at the break. On the hour mark Sokratis finished off the visitors with the third and final goal, Arsenal had done themselves good in a solid 3-0 conviction.
Come the round of 16 Arsenal entertained French side Rennes who would outgun them in the first-leg. Despite Alex Iwobi slotting The Gunners into a quick fire lead after four minutes Rennes responded with an equaliser moments before halftime when Benjamin Bourigeaud found the back of the net. The Red and Blacks chased Emery’s men down hard in the second half for the second which was just what they got, however it came at the fault of defender Nacho Monreal who unintentionally put the ball in the back of his own net before the 70th minute mark. Ismaila Sarr rubbed salt into Arsenal wounds not long before the fulltime whistle with a cracking header from within the box, to put the expected winners to bed 3-1.
For the second tie in a row the North Londoners had to come back from the first game and rectify the aggregate score at home in the final leg. Aubameyang slammed Arsenal in the opener after five minutes slashing the ball in from inside the seven yard box. Ten minutes later Maitland-Niles levelled the score on aggregate at 3-3 with a header from a handful of yards away, after latching onto the end of an Aubameyang cross following the Gabon just about keeping the ball in play. In the final section of the match Arsenal needed a third to advance to the next round of the Europa League knockout stages, in the 72nd minute Aubameyang popped up with the final 3-0 winning goal as Rennes had been surpassed 4-3 on aggregate.
Arsenal was drawn against one time UEFA Cup winners for the quarter-finals who posed little threat if any. After a quarter of an hour Ramsey buried in the opener at home into the bottom far side of Alex Meret’s goal from close range. Fast-forward ten minutes and a deflection off of Koulibaly’s leg landed in the back of the goal to seal the Italians 2-0 fate at the Emirates quickly. At the Stadio San Paolo a wicked Lacazette free kick finished the 1-0 win and 3-0 overall after 180 minutes of satisfaction and action.
Emery’s Arsenal had reached their second Europa League semi-final for the second successive campaign. Atletico Madrid had been the bearer of bad news previously, after a 1-1 draw in Spain Arsenal fans hearts broke in the second leg in North London after Diego Costa (former Chelsea talisman) made sure the Spanish side reached the final 2-1 on aggregate, with his solo effort.
Arsenal fortunately recovered from the previous season’s trauma of their semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid. This time round Spanish side Valencia who had beaten Arsenal in the 1980 European Cup Winners Cup on penalties stood shoulder to shoulder with the Gunners. Mouctar Diakhaby gave Los Ches a surprise lead just past the ten minute mark but within seven keen minutes The Gunners retaliated through Lacazette who had the ball pulled back to him on the edge of the box by Aubameyang. Within moments fort Arsenal made their mark on the game when the Frenchman scored again, this time with his header which bounced off the ground and high into the top of the goal. In the dying seconds Aubameyang secured the 3-1 victory with a close range half volley to properly hand Arsenal the initiative.
In Valencia with just over 44,000 fans watching Arsenal well and truly demolished the Spanishmen. Aubameyang would lead the way at the Mestalla rounding off a perfectly timed hat-trick with Lacazette hopping in with the fourth as Valencia were sideswiped 4-2 with ease and 7-3 on aggregate.
Arsenal were now in their first European final since they were beaten in the dying moments of their 2006 Champions League final appearance 2-1 by Barcelona. In an all English final Arsenal were over optimistic for their clash with Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea but little did they expect to be overturned so easily. With the game standing at a 0-0 deadlock at halftime after a strange lacklustre first half from both sides, ex-Gunner Olivier Giroud opened up the firing on his old side who he had left only a year before four minutes into the second half. The Frenchman fired in a cracking header from the centre of the box after a peach perfect through ball reached him from Emerson. The Blues couldn’t have faced an easier defence for their second 11 minutes later when Pedro scored with four men around him in the box from near enough point blank range. The South Londoners were then handed a cheap penalty which sent Petr Cech the wrong way on his line, making it 3-0. Arsenal tried to crawl their way back into the game when just before the 70th minute mark Iwobi stroked in a magnificent half volley from outside the box which hit the far side of goal impressively. However Chelsea were just too good for the slow out of the block Gunners, where after some sloppy defending in the box Hazard grabbed a second to finish off the 4-1 spanking over Arsenal!
In his post match interview Emery who had never been beaten in a Europa League final admitted it all went downhill after Chelsea broke the scoreboard “the first goal changed all.”
Arsenal are yet to appear in a European final since 2019 but maybe all will change this coming season in the Champions League?
Liam Harding
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That result still hurts big time. A total disgrace to stage it in Azerbaijan and at the time Henrikh Mkhitaryan who tended to do better in European games for Arsenal couldn’t play due the political situation in Karabakh. Much harder run to the final than Chelsea who only luckily squeaked through on penalties in the semi final against Frankfurt. I have never seen such a collapse following the Giroud goal (he went down a lot in my estimation after that match ), that preening diva Ozil insulted Emery when he was substituted. Their version of Ozil Hazard ran the show in the 2nd half as he always seemed to be up for games against Arsenal. He was subsequently transferred to Real M and got injured and basically did nothing on a fat contract. A very painful result as Arsenal needed to win it much more than Chelsea. Not sure playing Cech in that fixture was a good idea either as he was just about to retire from playing and take a job there. Horrible memories of that game which was the beginning of the end for Emery at Arsenal.