Ozil enters elite group of Arsenal legends with Champions League hat-trick
Oct 20, 2016 at 12:55 PM
Mesut Ozil has become the fifth player to score a hat-trick for Arsenal in the Champions League following his treble in the 6-0 victory over Ludogorets.
The Germany international scored the first hat-trick of his professional career on Wednesday evening with three excellent finishes in the second half.
And Ozil now joins Thierry Henry, Nicklas Bendtner, Danny Welbeck and Olivier Giroud as players who has scored three times in one game for the Gunners in Europe’s elite competition.
The 28-year-old also ended his assist drought by setting up Theo Walcott’s superb first-half strike.
Before the game against the Bulgarian minnows, Ozil hadn’t registered an assist in the Champions League since October 2014.
At the end of August, when Mesut Ozil headed Arsenal’s third goal in their 3-1 win over Watford at Vicarage Road, Arsene Wenger laid down a challenge. “We know he can give assists but we hope he can get the goals,” he said. “We want 10 to 15 goals from him, plus the chances he creates.”
Ozil had equaled a Premier League record with 19 assists in the previous campaign, but eight goals in 45 league and cup appearances represented a modest total – despite being his best yet for Arsenal.
Wenger was convinced that the German had more to offer in front of goal, and recent evidence suggests Ozil was listening.
He struck his second of the season when Arsenal dismantled Chelsea in September, and there was a stunning third on his birthday against Swansea. The Premier League’s most creative player was finally playing with a cutting edge of his own, and he made his most emphatic statement yet against Ludogorets on Wednesday night.
Arsenal played with the scintillating speed that has typified their recent performances, cutting the brittle visitors open at will and running riot in the second half.
They were already three goals up when Ozil got his first, brilliantly cushioning Santi Cazorla’s 40-yard pass and finishing coolly beyond the hapless Ludogorets goalkeeper.
The touch and balance were outstanding, and Ozil showed his newfound predatory instincts for his second and third goals. Substitute Lucas Perez provided the ammunition, first from the left-hand side, then from the right., and Ozil finished the night with three goals from three shots on target.
He is now just two short of his total for the whole of last season.
It has been quite a transformation, but what’s changed? “He looks like he has got a taste for scoring goals,” said Arsene Wenger in his post-match press conference.
“He goes behind more. Before he only liked to come towards the ball and provide, but we want him to be the provider and the scorer. It looks like he’s slowly moving towards a better balance.”