Arsenal fear no-one in last 16 draw, declares hotshot Ramsey

Aaron Ramsey feels Arsenal should not fear anybody in the last 16 of the Champions League after his "best goal" helped silence the critics as the Gunners won 4-1 at Galatasaray.

The 23-year-old’s sensational long-range half-volley — so good, it was applauded by the home fans at the Turk Telekom Arena, — made it 3-0 after half an hour. Arsene Wenger’s men delivered a commanding display in Istanbul with a much-changed side, showing no hangover from Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Stoke, which left them sixth in the Premier League.

Ramsey’s superb effort added to his neat finish inside the area after 11 minutes, and followed Lukas Podolski’s earlier opener for the visitors.It proved a popular talking point on Twitter, with Arsenal forward Yaya Sanogo looking flabbergasted after the ball flew into the top corner.

At the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny put his head in his hands in disbelief at what he had just witnessed.

Wenger, meanwhile, had quipped in his post-match press conference, he felt to shoot from such a distance was “not the right decision, but he proved me wrong!”

Ramsey agrees the goal is the outstanding strike of his career so far.

“I have just seen it back, and I thought it was a lot closer, but it was quite far out and definitely my best goal now,” Ramsey said.

Despite the impressive victory, Arsenal, who had surrendered a 3-0 lead against Anderlecht on the fourth Champions League match day, were unable to secure top spot in Group D, with Borussia Dortmund going through to Monday’s draw as seeds.

That means Arsenal look set to face one of Europe’s heavyweights in the knockout stages next year, including Real Madrid, and BayernMunich.

Ramsey, though, believes the Gunners — boosted by the return of Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil by the next set of Champions League fixtures in February — can go into any such tie with confidence.

“We finished off in style and hopefully now we will get a nice draw,” he said.

“On our day, we are capable of giving anyone a game, hopefully the draw is a bit more kinder to us this time.”

Both Ramsey and midfielder Mathieu Flamini were taken off at the break with minor muscle problems, but they are expected to be available for Saturday’s tea-time kick-off against Newcastle at the Emirates Stadium.