Arsenal finished the Champions League league phase with a win over a Girona side already eliminated from the competition before the game kicked off. Former Tottenham Hotspur loanee Arnaut Danjuma fired Girona into the lead midway through the first half, remarkably the first open play goal Arsenal have conceded in Europe this season.
But Jorginho equalised from the penalty spot, while Ethan Nwaneri's first Champions League goal had decisively put the Gunners in front before the half-time whistle. Raheem Sterling also missed a penalty in stoppage time that would have been the icing on the cake. The Gunners had two early sights of goal in northern Catalonia. Leandro Trossard might have expected to do better as he met Ethan Nwaneri's cross into the box with his body, while Riccardo Calafiori soon had the ball in the net with a tidy finish that was ruled marginally offside.
So, when the hosts took the lead, it was quite out of the blue. Arsenal were cut open by a single pass into the left channel from centre-back Juanpe. Danjuma raced onto it and, seeing Neto 30 yards from goal, curled a shot around the stranded Brazilian, who still dived even though handling the ball would have resulted in a red card. The Gunners responded well and had turned the game around completely by the time the first half ended.
Thomas Partey's bulldozing run into the box was responsible for drawing Arsenal level, battling his way through tackles and ending up being taken out by Arnau Martinez. Jorginho kept his composure amid the heckles from the home fans and fired into the bottom right corner. Nwaneri's go-ahead strike a few moments later was next level, showing no fear as he cut inside from the right and fired an unstoppable left-footed strike beyond the reach of Pau Lopez. There was also still time for Trossard to hit the bar from a narrow angle just before the interval.
Arsenal remained on top. Half-time substitute Jurrien Timber inadvertently stopped a Nwaneri corner from directly nestling in the bottom corner in his own attempts to turn the ball in. Calafiori had Lopez flying across goal an hour in, chasing a shot that narrowly missed. Girona made five changes, all within the first 25 minutes of the second half, in a bid to switch things up and give Arsenal different questions to answer. Mikel Arteta also made further use of his bench, handing another opportunity to Myles Lewis-Skelly and throwing on Kai Havertz.
