Arsenal qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League following a tricky 3-2 win over Bulgarian champions Ludogorets in Sofia on Tuesday.
Arsene Wenger’s side were made to work for their victory, and had to come from 2-0 down to seal a place in the knock-out stages with still two games of the group left to play.
Goals from Jonathan Cafu and Claudio Kesero gave the home side a surprise two-goal lead after a quarter of an hour, but Granit Xhaka pulled one back for the English side five minutes later.
Olivier Giroud’s excellent header made it 2-2 just before half-time and, while both sides went for the winner in the second half, it was Mesut Ozil’s moment of magic that sealed the win for Arsenal.
Genius from @MesutOzil1088! The German seals a remarkable @Arsenal comeback with a sublime goal.🙌🙌🙌 #UCL #LUDvAFC https://t.co/tCLTpQX0qQ
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 1, 2016
The German international broke free from the Ludogorets backline and surged towards goal, chipping the onrushing keeper and then skipping past the recovering defenders to fire the ball into an empty net.
Unsurprisingly, fans took to Twitter to rave about Ozil’s match-winning contribution, with many taken aback by the 28-year-old’s magnificence…
https://twitter.com/mackaygolspie/status/793588928792100864
The goal scored by Mesut Ozil yesterday is the best description of beauty.
— Patrick Odi (@OdiPatrick) November 2, 2016
https://twitter.com/ruiki99_enson/status/793592271501348864
https://twitter.com/ConAFC/status/793780641473191936
However, some feel that it wasn’t quite as good as some people have made out, suggesting that the poor defensive work made the goal look better than it really was…
https://twitter.com/Skinaldo7/status/793786967079149568
https://twitter.com/JimboOfMancunia/status/793587248323264512
https://twitter.com/tommms/status/793577507702341632
However, many recognised Ozil’s brilliance, and have even said that it could be a contender for goal of the season…
That's best goal of season so far me. How cool was Ozil. Absolute class.
— Garry Wolfe. (@hyena4) November 1, 2016
Contender for goal of the season. The award usually goes to some ridiculous volley but honestly what Ozil did there is probably tougher. IMO
— addy 🐝 (@spamduster) November 1, 2016