At some point, the prospect of Arsenal playing in the Europa League hit home. That cruel terrace taunt — ‘Thursday nights, Channel 5’ — just wouldn’t sound right for any team managed by Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal are a Champions League club and they have the pedigree to prove it after qualifying for the knockout phase in every one of the last 15 years.
Credit to Wenger and his team because they are hanging on in there after this emphatic victory, they really are.
Arsenal have won only two of their five fixtures in Group F and yet they will maintain their proud record in this competition if they beat Olympiacos by two goals in Greece next month.
Mesut Ozil drew first blood and Alexis Sanchez scored twice in a thorough and convincing Arsenal performance.
They won easily, finally breaking down Dinamo’s defence when Ozil scored with a diving header in the 29th minute.
Arsenal impressed throughout, with Ozil, Sanchez and the deep-lying figure of Santi Cazorla sidestepping the challenges of Leonardo Sigali and Jeremy Taravel at the heart of Dinamo’s defence. Once they got going, Arsenal were relentless.
The familiar vulnerabilities, the nervousness that permeates this team when they are on Champions League duty, disappeared into the north London sky.
Arsenal’s opening goal came from a move that began when the dressing-room entrepreneur Mathieu Flamini, taking time off from his bid to become a billionaire in the energy industry, recycled the ball into the feet of Sanchez.
The Arsenal flyer turned inside, pinpointed the run of Ozil and delivered the cross for the German to steer his header bravely beyond Dinamo’s onrushing goalkeeper Eduardo.
