Arsene Wenger feared Arsenal’s Europa League tie against Cologne would be called off after crowd trouble marred the 3-1 win.
Kick-off was delayed by an hour until 9:05pm in North London as thousands of German supporters descended on the Emirates Stadium without tickets, creating a bottleneck outside the ground that stopped the home faithful from getting inside.
The tension only ratcheted when fans were allowed into the ground as it became apparent that thousands of travelling supporters had acquired home tickets. Some tried to jump the barriers and make their way into the away end – which was supposed to hold 3,000 fans – whilst others stayed put as the Cologne fans effectively took over the Clock End.
Arsenal opted to play the game, deeming it the “safest option”, but the match took place in bizarre circumstances as the travelling Cologne supporters drowned out their hosts, greeting Wenger’s side with a cacophonous string of boos as they began their warm-up.
It was enough to make the Frenchman doubt whether the game could safely go ahead.
“We waited patiently in our dressing room but what was difficult for me was that I had all kinds of plans to think about,” Wenger said.
“Do we play tomorrow? At what time do we want to play? Do we play next week, but they have a Bundesliga game midweek we have a League Cup game midweek. Do we move it to Tuesday and play Thursday? It was all kinds of speculations that we had to analyse.
“In the end, at some stage, I thought they will not play the game. I can’t see the police taking any risk. We live in a society of 100 per cent security.
"I thought they would never take a gamble to play this game when I saw the images around the stadium but I must say our supporters dealt well with the situation. There was no aggravation and I hope everything goes well after the game.
“Was it the right decision? If nothing happens after the game, yes.
“[The Cologne fans] were very clever. I don’t know how they managed to infiltrate our fans and get everywhere but they did that very well. I don’t know did they go through Arsenal membership, on the internet. But they did very well.”
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Asked whether Uefa should take action against Cologne for the disruption caused by their fans Wenger told Standard Sport: “They are the only masters to analyse the facts. They’ll certainly make an enquiry to see what happened.”
Wenger, however, insisted that the febrile away support had not taken his team by surprise, though the ninth minute opener of Jhon Cordoba, a 45-yard lob after David Ospina had hared away from goal.
It took until the second half for Arsenal to settle, when Sead Kolasinac replaced Rob Holding as Arsenal switched from three at the back to four. The Bosnian international scored the opener before Alexis Sanchez and Hector Bellerin secured the victory.
“I believe our team was better balanced, better equipped going forward. The second half was one-way traffic, it was just a question of time.
“Overall I believe we won in a convincing way.
“Kolasinac gave us a lot going forward but as well he pushed Sanchez further forward. He played very deep in the first half, when he had more support in the second half he became more dangerous.”