Arsenal lift Emirates Cup

Arsenal 2017 Emirates FA Cup CHAMPIONS Dressing room celebrations.
Arsenal on Sunday lifted the much coveted Emirates Cup in spite of a 1-2 loss to Spanish side, Sevilla, in their final game at the Emirates Stadium in London.

Arsenal came into the final game leading the group on eight points, ahead of the German side, RB Leipzig, on five points, which had earlier in the day defeated Benfica 2-0.

Sevilla needed to beat the hosts by two clear goals to stand any chance at winning the trophy.

Both sides had few chances at goal but were unable to make their opportunities count as the first half ended goalless.

The Spaniards, however, dictated the pace in the early stages of the second half and took a well-deserved lead in the 49th minute.

Arsenal stood still, waiting for the offside flag to go up as Wissam Yedder fed Joaquin Correa in the area.

The Sevilla forward wasn’t off and slotted home the opener from close range, beating the onrushing goalkeeper Petr Cech to the ball.

The goal sparked life into the game as the hosts began to pile pressure on the Spaniards as they went on the prowl for the equaliser.

Mesut Ozil fed Aaron Ramsey, who laid the ball off to Alexandre Lacazette and the Frenchman side-footed an effort on target but the keeper gets down low to stop it in the 57th minute.

Ozil again tried to link up with Lacazette in the 60th minute but the duo was scuppered.

The pressure, however, paid off three minutes later as Lacazette scored his first goal at home for Arsenal.

The 46 million pounds striker side-footed home at the back post after a lovely run from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

But while the stadium was still buzzing, Steven N’Zonzi collected the ball from the edge of the area and curled in a stunner in the 68th minute which made the atmosphere at the Emirates very flat.

Arsenal had another chance in the 77th minute to equalise but Aaron Ramsey’s shot from outside the box narrowly missed its target as the midfielder tried to poke past goalkeeper Sergio Rico.

In an effort to inject more power into Arsenal’s attack, Theo Walcott, who scored twice on Saturday entered the fray alongside Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi as substitutes for Lacazette and Mohamed Elneny in the 79th minute.

But the Spaniards defence line was resolute as they held on for a 2-1 win.