UNITED KINGDOM: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - PSV's Alex scores at both ends to send Arsenal tumbling out

PSV Eindhoven's Brazilian defender Alex turned from villain to hero on Wednesday (March 7) when the Dutch club earned a 1-1 draw at Arsenal to reach the Champions League quarter-finals 2-1 on aggregate. A disappointing game, which broke a Champions League record for foreign players, looked to be heading for extra time after Alex inadvertently prodded a corner into his own net in the 58th minute at the Emirates Stadium to level the aggregate score of the first knockout round tie. Young Brazilian Denilson swung in a corner and the unfortunate Alex could only watch in horror as the ball cannoned off his foot into the net. However, with Arsenal searching in vain for the second goal that would have put them in their third quarter-final in four seasons, Alex soared above the home defence to head his side level seven minutes from time. PSV had to weather a storm after the own goal but survived and then punished Arsenal when the home side conceded a needless free kick near the corner flag. Edison Mendez, scorer of the winner in the first leg, swung the ball in and Alex arced his header beyond a despairing Jens Lehmann. The goal sparked wild celebrations from a large travelling army of Dutch fans and a mass exodus from disgruntled home fans who watched their side's last hopes of silverware vanish. In less than two weeks, Arsenal have suffered defeat in three cup competitions, losing to Chelsea in the League Cup final and then being bounced out of the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers. "It's a massive disappointment for us," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters. "We had the chances to score a second goal and there was room not to make a mistake, because they were only dangerous on counter-attacking or on set pieces and there was enough room not to make the free kick, and on the other hand we couldn't take our chances. We had in the first half one or two good headers, we had in the second half two good chances, and it's a bit a repetition of the first leg." Wenger also confirmed that Thierry Henry, who came on as a second-half substitute, had torn a stomach muscle. PSV coach Ronald Koeman paid tribute to his side's tenacity but criticised Arsenal's performance. He said: "I thought Arsenal failed to continue to pressure us. It seemed like they were doubting a little bit and I thought they should have made more pressure to make it 2-0, but they didn't and because of that we started to play better and evened the score at 1-1 at that point I knew that the match was secure." The Gunners had only managed seven goals in this year's competition before Wednesday and they spent most of the night huffing and puffing while Henry watched from the bench. When he did get on he almost won the tie when his free kick brought a flying save from PSV keeper Gomes. Cocu was the only Dutch player in PSV's starting line-up while Arsenal did not include one English player on a night that had 16 different nationalities in the starting 22. The bitter pill of defeat was made even more unpalatable for Wenger because the deciding goal was scored by a player on loan to the Dutch club from English rivals Chelsea. Wenger recently questioned the agreement PSV have with Chelsea over Alex, who is on an extended loan. With Chelsea's defence short on numbers Alex might have expected to have appeared for Jose Mourinho's side over recent weeks. But Koeman confirmed that the defender would be eligible to play if PSV were to meet Chelsea later in the competition. He said: "Yes, he's (Alex) a player of PSV till the end of this season and after that we will be talking to Chelsea about the situation of the player but till the end of this season he's a player of PSV."

ITN Source | March 8, 2007

Tags:. .flag. .doubting. .couldnt. .muscle. .loan