UCL2012: Schalke hand Arsenal FC first defeat at Emirates in 3yrs

By Ashley Williams

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Ibrahim Afellay score goals for German club at Emirates

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) October 25, 2012: The Schalke 04 played out of their skins to shock Arsenal FC and hand them their first defeat at the Emirates since 2009 in the UEFA Champions League 2012 match on Wednesday.

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With manager Arsene Wenger serving his European touchline ban and watching the match from the stands, The Gunners looked completely out-of-sorts on home soil as more misery was added after their Saturday’s English Premier League loss at Norwich City.

The match failed to produce any goals in the first half but Klaas-Jan Hunelaar and Ibrahim Afellay broke the shackles in the second half and propelled the Schalke on top of the Group B over Arsenal FC.

Going is getting tough for Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal FC who have two very important games coming up in the next few days where they are due to face off against Queens Park Rovers in the English Premier League encounter on Saturday before meeting Reading in the Capital One Cup clash next week.

Schalke had defeated their Bundesliga foes Borussia Dortmund in an away game but were pegged back by a ten-man Montpelliler who grabbed a 2-2 draw in their last UEFA Champions League encounter.

Arsenal FC struggled for the best part of the match and never found any sort of rhythm while kept them at bay from the Schalke’s goalpost but their opponents didn’t lose much of their chances as Klaas-Jan Hunelaar gave the tourists a well-deserved lead in the 76^th minute.

The Gunners needed to shoot and shoot it as quickly as possible with time running out fast but they failed to respond to the grim situation which provided Schalke forwards the chance to further pressure and Ibrahim Afellay completed the victory with a brilliant goal in 86^th minute.