A brilliant late Olivier Giroud volley gave Arsenal an undeserved 1-0 in Belgrade. Arsenal were headed to a 0-0 draw against Crvena Zvezda in the Europa League until Olivier Giroud pulled this magic out of his bag of tricks.
Olivier Giroud said Arsenal "owe" their Europa League victory to goalkeeper Petr Cech more than his own spectacular goal in the 1-0 win at Red Star Belgrade on Thursday.
With their hosts down to 10 men, Giroud hooked an 85th-minute strike over his head and into the far corner with a fine effort after some good work from Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott.
But Arsenal needed Cech to keep the game goalless to that point, as the goalkeeper denied Nemanja Radonjic in both halves as well as a header from Nenad Krsticic -- earning praise from goal scorer Giroud.
"We owe him maybe the win today because he has been amazing two or three times," Giroud said of Cech. "We know he has this quality and he was a great goalkeeper tonight."
Olivier Giroud's late goal was the difference as Arsenal won in Belgrade.
On his goal -- somewhat similar to the Puskas Award-finalist strike he scored last season against Crystal Palace -- Giroud said he only attempted the audacious shot after he failed to locate a teammate to whom he could pass.
"In that position I can control the ball and try to play it to a teammate, but I didn't see anyone and I tried to take it," he said. "It was a bit like the other goal, and it found the top corner."
Arsenal have won all three of the games to open the Group H campaign, and with two home games remaining, Giroud said he believed the Gunners could finished with a 100 percent record.
"I'm happy for the team, we fought until the end. We knew it would be a tough game, but we stayed patient and played our game," he said.
"We obviously want to win every single game, and we've played two away games, and this is very nice for the future. We can play with certainty and try to win every game in the group."
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Source: espn.co.uk