Bendtner's Surprising Hat-Trick Get Arsenal To The Last Eight

Arsenal successfully survived the scare as they beat Porto by 5-0 (6-2) at Emirates, Tuesday (9/3/2010), to reach Champions League last eight after previously being down 2-1 at the 1st leg.

The score was opened ten minutes after kick-off by Nicklas Bendtner as he netted the ball which came from Andrey Arshavin who couldn't directly score since he was blocked by Porto's goalkeeper, Helton, and came into collision. Helton then treated for a few minutes as the aftermath.

The ball again hit the back of Porto's goal at the 25th minute as the result of wonderful dribble by Arshavin as he passed through Porto's defenders and gave the ball to Bendtner and allowed him to finish.

Even though many potential chances were made, no more goal created until the half-time whistle.

The second half was started with Porto dominance. But it didn't stay long as Samir Nasri's goal brought their mental back down at minute sixty three. Nasri was holding the ball at the right-side of the field when Arsenal for one more time came into attacking. In a split seconds, he already had three defenders blocking his way. But, instead of passed the ball, he ran and skillfully dribble passed the three men before finally shot the ball from incredibly narrow angle with Helton guarding his goal right in front of him. He then celebrated his goal with a group hug along with other players who were warming-up on the side.

"I believe Samir Nasri is developing very well. What he showed in the game tonight, he has shown in training, and we expected that to come out in games. He is a player with talent and he has shown that again tonight, he showed that on Saturday, and he has started to be efficient now. I believe the first pass against Burnley was great. Tonight on the first goal, he made a great pass to Arshavin and scored a great goal. The great players for me are the players who give assists and score goals. And that is what you want from him." said Arsene Wenger after the game.

Hadn't managed to recover from the goal, the ball for one more time hit the back of the net three minutes later from the foot of Emmanuel Eboue who had just came into the pitch substituting for Rosicky. And the score went 4-0 for Arsenal.

It was obvious that the fortune still laid on The Gunners as the referee pointed on the white spot after Eboue being hauled down by Fucile. Nicklas Bendtner then came out as the penalty taker and gave a success execution and collected his personal third goal a.k.a. his first ever hat-trick in his career.

"He was No 3. The No 1 was Nasri, the No 2 was Arshavin. And he was No 3. He was lucky. Arshavin was out and Nasri as well when the penalty happened." said The Professor.

The score went 5-0 and kept the same until the final whistle. The Gunners booked their place at the quarter-final of Champions League and ready to face their upcoming opponent, possibly Barcelona.

Bendtner's treble was quite surprising though, since he played terribly at the last game against Burnley when he wasted at least seven potential chances which some people think that even amateur can turned them into goals. With this, Wenger could only say:

"I told you how football can change for a player in three days. It goes quickly up and quickly down. And it shows you as well that he has not lost the confidence that he came back tonight with good focus and with the same belief. It is one of his strengths. His confidence level remains relatively stable."

Hmm, one of the few advantages of his over-confident attitude.