Arsenal beats Dinamo Zagreb to keep Champions League last 16 hopes alive (Video)

An awful lot had to break just right for Arsenal to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League for a 17th consecutive season. With two group stage games left to play going into Tuesday, Arsenal needed six points and for Bayern Munich to help out as well. And then the tiebreakers still had to shake out correctly.

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On Tuesday, Arsenal – whose domestic form has flagged lately after a hot start saw them lead the Premier League after 10 rounds – made the start it needed to accomplish its difficult task, rolling over Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 at home. Thanks to Bayern's 4-0 win over Olympiakos, that means on the final matchday in two weeks, a two-goal away win over the Greeks will suffice for the Gunners to advance.

They are once again masters of their own fate.

Arsenal initially struggled to break Dinamo down, which was bunkered into its own half in the hopes of sneaking out of London with a result and, consequently, the hosts' ouster from the tournament. The Gunners controlled the run of play and really only had to guard for the Croatians' counterattacks. So it was a tad ironic that Arsenal's breakthrough came on a counter of its own in the 29th minute.

Alexis Sanchez picked out Mesut Ozil, whose deft header beat Eduardo.

Arsenal locked up the points a short while later. While the Gunners lost the ball in Dinamo's third, Nacho Monreal quickly regained possession outside the box, strode into the penalty area and cut back for Sanchez, who had a simple finish to double the score.

Arsenal's goal difference got another boost in the 69th – lifting it to minus-1 – from Sanchez's second. Joel Campbell, playing on the right as a consequence of the side's injury crisis, cut inside and slid a clever ball through to the Chilean, who circled Eduardo and popped the ball into the net from a tricky angle.

For now at least, Arsenal's European campaign and its streak of never failing to advance in the 21st century remain alive.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.