He met the ball, on the volley, with the side of his left foot. The merest touch, from just inside the area, but it fairly flew into the net. That is what you pay the money for, the shot seemed to say as it whistled past Pepe Reina; and inside the Emirates Stadium, every supporter would have been in agreement.
They had been waiting for a night like this from Mesut Ozil. Yes, he’d had his moments, and had never disappointed, but this had so far been the season of Aaron Ramsey, and Olivier Giroud.
Ozil had been the catalyst for so much that was good about Arsenal without yet having one game in which he was, well, the difference.
Scroll down to watch Wenger and Benitez press conferences
Too hot to handle: Mesut Ozil (centre) celebrates the opening goal with his Arsenal team-mates
Match facts
ARSENAL (4-3-2-1): Szczesny 6; Sagna 7, Mertesacker 7, Koscielny 7, Gibbs 7; Flamini 8, Arteta 7, Ramsey 7 (Monreal 88); Ozil 9, Rosicky 6 (Wilshere 63, 6); Giroud 7.
Subs not used: Fabianski, Vermaelen, Bendtner, Jenkinson, Gnabry
Manager: Arsene Wenger: 7
Goals: Ozil 8, Giroud 15
NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): Reina 5; Mesto 5, Albiol 6 (Fernandez 83), Britos 6, Zuniga 5; Behrami 5, Inler 6; Callejon 5 (Zapata 77), Hamsik 6, Insigne 5; Pandev 5 (Mertens 61, 5)
Subs: Cabral, Dzemaili, Fernandez, Armero, Cannavaro.
Manager: Rafa Benitez: 5
Man of the match: Ozil
Ref: Milorad Mazic (SRB) - 7
Attendance: 59,536
*Player ratings by SAMI MOKBEL at the Emirates
And then, against Napoli, it arrived. Ozil scored the first — and his first for his new club — then Ozil made the second, Ozil was quite simply a class apart. Napoli did not know what to do with him, and by the time they had worked something out, Arsenal were 2-0 up.
It really doesn’t matter the circumstances, whether Ozil was a hasty solution to another emerging crisis or an established, long-term objective of Arsene Wenger’s, kept shrewdly hidden all summer. Plan A, B or even C, what matters is that Ozil is here now, and the effect he has had on Arsenal’s confidence and stature this season is stunning.
They are playing with the ambition and finesse of old now, the best of Arsenal, not the pale imitation of previous seasons. Wenger took his first training session 17 years ago to the day, and when he did so, must have aimed to one day play football that looked like this. And he has done, on occasions, but not very much recently. Until Ozil arrived, and turned Arsenal’s story around.
As he turned this match, as he had it won inside 15 minutes. Arsenal had a two-goal cushion before Napoli settled and although the Italians enjoyed more possession in the second half, there was only going to be one winner.
It is hard to imagine what Rafael Benitez uses for target practice in Naples, but the evidence here suggested a gasometer. It is hard to recall an elite team that shot so wide so often. It was not so much that Wojciech Szczesny did not have a save to make, more that he would not have been forced into action had he been defending a goal three times the size. Ozil, by contrast, was the model of clinical efficiency. A match-winner of German precision.
It was a very sweet move that opened the scoring after eight minutes. Bacary Sagna played a ball down the line which Giroud held up well, feeding Ramsey, who sped with purpose along the right flank. He cut the ball back and there was Ozil. It was a tough finish but he made it look like child’s play. The next foray into the penalty area close to ended the contest.
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