Arsenal 3 Celtic 1
Eduardo pen 28, Eboue 53, Arshavin74, Donati 92
When the CLQ draw was made, Arsenal got lucky. I said that here at the time. Everybody knew it.
There is a huge gulf between the SPL and the EPL and we saw that gulf when Arsenal outclassed Celtic at Parkhead. Their two goals were lucky but Arsenal were sharper and more skilful all round the pitch and won comfortably.
Second leg, they would not have to extend themselves, so Wenger rested Arshavin and van Persie.
That worked, as Bendtner played better than van Persie did on Saturday.
Bendtner is young, limited, raw and one-paced. But he’s constructive and able to play a quick-passing game quite well. He is more conventional and can play people in better than RVP can.
After 22 minutes of tidy passing outside the box, Eduardo ran into the left side of the penalty area and keeper Artur Boruc went to ground, making sure there was no contact, holding back his arm. Good goalkeeping. The ball was going out for a goal-kick when Eduardo dived. But he got a penalty and scored it.
What a shame. Arsenal don’t need to cheat to beat Celtic. Cheating is bad karma and you always pay for it later.
My pal Kelvin immediately phoned from the Emirates.
“Was it a dive?”
“Yes.”
“We’re a long way from it, but I thought it was a dive.”
“I’ve switched over to Fiorentina v Sporting Lisbon. Looks like Howard Webb is the referee in this one. If there’s a cheating dive in this game, and a penalty is scored, I’ll switch back to Arsenal.”
On 35, Jao Moutinho scored with a free-kick round the wall to make it 3-2 to Sporting on aggregate.
Second half, I switched back in time to see a tasty Arsenal move that ended with Eboue making it 2-0 with a low shot.
When Arshavin and Wilshere came on in 72, I got interested in the game.
Arshavin did what Henrik Larsson did in Paris. He showed his class by getting straight into the game, picking up the tempo instantly : he came on in 71.32 and soon got a touch in the middle of the pitch, and another, and when Denilson dribbled and lost the ball (73.21), Arshavin won it back(73.22) and prodded the ball to Ramsey, let the return pass run across him as he swivelled to baffle the big centreback, and beat Boruc with a low right-foot shot on the turn from 14 yards (73.27).
Arshavin had scored within two minutes of coming on.
We didn’t really see Wenger’s reaction to the third goal.
When Eduardo stabbed wide in 8 minutes, Wenger stood up, then turned away when he saw the ball go past the post.
When Eduardo’s penalty went in, Wenger celebrated because that goal ended the tie by putting Arsenal into an unassailable 3-0 aggregate lead. When Eboue made it 4-0 on agg, Wenger was on his feet with both fists clenched, smiling.
But when Arshavin scored we saw him looking annoyed, rubbing his ear. His left hand was in his pocket. Did he jump up when the Russian scored? Did he applaud? I don’t know, TV didn’t show that.
We only know what we saw clearly demonstrated: When you sign class, you get end product straight away. After four accomplished games, Vermaelen proves the same point.
Andrey Arshavin was developed into one of the five best players in the world by, among others, Dick Advocaat and Guus Hiddink, two Dutch coaches who would build a team round him if they were in charge at Arsenal.
From time to time, a football club counts itself lucky enough to employ a Liam Brady, a Dennis Berkgkamp, an Arshavin. This football club has a manager who gave the star of Euro 2004 only 14 minutes against Chelsea in an semi-final of the FA Cup, the only trophy Arsenal could win last season.
That blunder proved the value of my Golden Rule No 1 : Watch what they do, ignore what they say.
That crazy, selfish decision at Wembley revealed Wenger as an obsessive developmental manager who wants to grow his own team regardless of what Arsenal fans want and have paid for.
ON the ITV highlights show, Wenger was shown the penalty incident.
He said, “I wouldn’t say that’s a dive. He touched him with his leg.”
We all saw that Eduardo collapsed before the keeper came anywhere near him. If Eduardo’s right foot touched Boruc, it was because he cutely moved his foot towards where he knew the keeper’s leg would be.
Amazingly, the referee fell for it.
The difference between a footballer and a professional footballer is that the pro takes advantage of his opponent in any way he can, every time he can. His job is to win by any means available.
Italian midfielder Massimo Donati scored with the last kick of the game when his stylish volley flew across Almunia and went in off the post for 3-1 .
ARSENAL (4-3-3): Almunia; Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy; Eboué (Wilshere, 72), Song, Denilson; Bendtner, Eduardo (Arshavin, 72), Diaby (Ramsey, 61). Subs not used: Mannone (gk), Van Persie, Silvestre, Traoré.
CELTIC (4-4-2): Boruc; Hinkel, Caldwell (O’Dea, h-t), Loovens, Fox; McGeady, Brown, Donati, Maloney (Flood, 61); Fortune, McDonald. Subs not used: Zaluska (gk), Naylor, Samaras, McCourt, Killen.
Referee: M Gonzalez (Spain)