Arsenal beat Sporting in their Champions League quarter-final, but the Portuguese club's captain, Morten Hjulmand, found their goalless second leg 'a bit boring'
Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand has described their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal as 'a bit boring'. The Denmark international also said that the goalless draw was 'low intensity', with 'no rhythm', and that it was not played the way his team wanted.
Arsenal and Sporting had just one shot on target each from 23 attempts between them during the 90 minutes. Their combined xG was the lowest of any match in the Champions League this season at 0.93.
Sporting have scored 114 goals in 48 games across all competitions this season. Arsenal have 117 goals over 54 matches.
Hjulmand spoke to CBS Sports after the match. He said: "I think it was an even game today.
"I think the impact of the first game that we lost made it more difficult to go to the Emirates and win, especially when we don't lose that much at home. We knew it would be difficult here as well, but still a game with low intensity, no rhythm, zero goals, boring, I would say.
He added: "A lot of stops during the game, so we couldn't get the rhythm we wanted to, so a little bit boring if I were a viewer from outside, 0-0.
"Also, the first game, 1-0, it’s not the way Sporting wants to show itself. We want to score goals, create chances, and we didn't do it today."
Hjulmand reiterated about the stoppages. He said: "During the game, I felt a lot of stops, especially during set-pieces, and it takes a lot of time out of the game.
"That's the rhythm as well. When we did get the rhythm, especially in the first half, I think we created a lot of chances as well to score 1-0, but at the end, we didn't create enough to win the game, to be honest."
However, he refused to compare Arsenal with the other teams left in the competition. Hjulmand said: "I prefer to speak about Sporting, and not Arsenal, and compare them to other teams."
Mikel Arteta spoke about Arsenal's performance afterwards. The Gunners boss said: "You have to be better than the opponent. I think we had many periods in the game when we were there, but we didn't score the goal; we didn't finalise the action well enough.
"We have many other things that are very important to get the result that you need in a tie. At this moment as well, it's about the way you compete, and when you're going to go and win titles, that's what's going to define the moments. We certainly did that tonight."
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resabekpst
1
If Arsenal play like that against Atletico they will lose disgracefully as it was against PSG last season. Atletico have striking force which Arsenal lack and that will account for the difference at the end of 90 minutes. Arteta is not making effective use of the talents available to him. Very boring coach.
What can Arteta do? He has Saka Odegaard, Timber ,Calafiori and Merino out, all big players. His mistake was not rotating early season to keep players fresh and fit. Gyrolokes isn’t an Arsenal type for me, Havertz is far superior due to the fact that he can hold up the ball and his technicality is far superior. Gyrolokes distribution is awful. Eze gave him 2 excellent opportunities but he has got to have 2-3 touches before shooting. Actually Jesus looked sharp and may get a game wide left, with Martinelli playing wide right. Dowman is a great impact sub to have.
Suacdeipy
1
If Arsenal play like that against Atletico they will lose disgracefully as it was against PSG last season. Atletico have striking force which Arsenal lack and that will account for the difference at the end of 90 minutes. Arteta is not making effective use of the talents available to him. Very boring coach.
This same sporting defeated PSG, it’s always a different story when it’s Arsenal
Pazdklmnoy
1
sporting players should have left the Gk alone on the pitch and go to watch bayern - madrid game. The result would be still 0 - 0 against arsenal.
vosikmptuz
1
If Arsenal play like that against Atletico they will lose disgracefully as it was against PSG last season. Atletico have striking force which Arsenal lack and that will account for the difference at the end of 90 minutes. Arteta is not making effective use of the talents available to him. Very boring coach.