Nürnberg impress against Arsenal

The 2. Bundesliga side ultimately lost to the English powerhouse 5-3 in a friendly, but FC Nürnberg showed some class as they faced one of the best teams in Europe.

It was only a friendly, but the 2nd division team from Bavaria played as if it was one of the most important matches on their schedule. And both sides put on quite the show.

Johannes Geis put away the first goal in stunning fashion as the ball ricocheted against the crossbar after a cutback from Freiburg loanee, Lino Tempelmann. After a sloppy touch from Arsenal, Kwadwo Duah scored a sublime finish to quickly put FC Nürnberg up 2-0 before halftime. But then, Gabriel Jesus showed up.

Nürnberg simply had no answer for the Brazilian as he subbed on and put away 2 goals of his own to go along with a Mohamed Elneny rocket. A couple of own-goals from the German side pretty much ended things, although Lukas Schleimer did get on the scoresheet in the 73rd minute. A 5-3 Arsenal win, but a huge victory for Nürnberg as well.

They showed off their talented youngsters who play excellent aggressive, pressing football. Nürnberg weren’t far away from securing promotion to the top flight last season, as they look to have another strong chance with Nikola Dovedan up front, who’s now joined by attacking newcomers Duah and Christoph Daferner.

37-year-old coach Robert Klauß stated that, “We saw what is already working well, even against such a team. But we also saw that you are punished if you don’t do things well. On one hand of course, it annoys me that we still lost after a 2-0 lead. On the other hand, you also have to recognize the class of Arsenal.”

Perhaps the scrappiest division in the world is set to commence in a week’s time. Expect Nürnberg to be right in the thick of things if this performance is any indicator.

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