Champions League Play-off: Arsenal 2 Celtic 0
Despite having injury worries, Cesc Fabregas started tonight’s Champions League play-off against Celtic, along with the ten others who started against the sensational season opener at Goodison Park.
Both teams found their rhythms fairly quicker with Arsenal displaying their usual passing flair and Celtic demonstrating their own attackign ability. Early on Arshavin found the back of the net, but this was ruled off-side. Arsenal dominated possession, although Celtic were cutting in well to the sting out of Arsenal’s continuous attacks.
Breakthrough came when Van Persie backheels a free-kick for Cesc. Cesc hit it well but the ball took a wicked deflection off the back of Gallas to give Arsenal a precious away goal.
Celtic took a little longer to settle down in the second half as Arsenal carried on forward on a number of occasion. However, nothing came of this.
Immediately after replacing Arshavin on the field, Diaby won the ball beautifully to pass to Clichy, whose cross leads to an own goal by Cardwell. 2-0 to Arsenal!
Arsenal continues with majority possession and held on to their 2 goal lead. Great to Celtic though, who made the greatest efforts to bring the game to Arsenal. Full match report here.
Special mention for Cesc, who covered so much ground today as always and he is not even 100% fit and for Vermaelen; still early I know, but in the two games he has played, he has been brilliant!
Second leg takes place next Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium!
I have added some photos of Cesc during the match, which can be viewed in the latest photos section
Related posts:
Leave a comment You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hey Mila!
Im not sure about AW and rotating the players. I think he is pretty happy with how everyone is playing. Eduardo is fit but I think he will be on the bench. We will just have to wait and see.
I think this whole Barca stuff is getting a little ridiculous. I mean a pact, thats a bit strange to say the least. I mean nobody knows how the season is going to play out. I have been reading alot of this stuff and its frustrating! Let the boy play and leave him alone!
Rukhsana
August 21, 2009
hopefully our boys will do well again in the 2nd leg of the match..
do you guys think AW will rotate his players when they’re facing Portsmouth in the weekend??
i hope Captain Cesc will play though I think he’ll be rested for the 2nd leg of CL match.. just my opinion..
news about Cesc going to Barca if Arsenal didnt get in for CL kinda bugs me.. i know it’s not true but hopefully it’ll stop cuz i’m afraid it’ll distract our boys.. maybe the press are looking for a ‘new target’ since Ronaldo has leave for Real Madrid.. they don’t have anymore juicy news to report on so; they turns to Cesc.. hehee.. i’m thinking too much!!
miLa
August 21, 2009
I have read the reports about a pact but it seems just like speculation to me. There are no quotes from the barcelona side or the Arsenal side to say that there is /there is going to be a pact in place. On top of that, Arsene last week stated that cesc will be going nowhere and that the media were the ones which were making up stories. And would Wenger really make a pact like that? I highly doubt it. Cesc himself has come out countless times and stated that he is not leaving, and has not been happy with the media speculation. No doubt, Cesc will return to spain one day, and probably to barca, but this pact talk seems like a load of nonsense.Especially with some of the newspapers stating that the pact states that he will leave if Arsenal lose against Celtic.And only for £35 million?? I know 35 million euros is a lot, but compared to the transfer fees of some of the top players recently it doesn’t seem like much.
Andy- Lucky you! I have no idea how much it will be worth. If you want to sell it, put it up on ebay and see who the highest bidder is.
Mila- Yep. They seemed to have got much tougher than last season. ^^
Plu
August 20, 2009
Deena
Barcelona has stopped bothering Cesc this season.
Anyway if he go he cant play in CL coz he had played against Celtic.so matter closed.
Cesc will know better when he want to go n where.he wont go if he cant play in CL or not in 1st eleven.
I hope he be better n more consistent this season so he will get the best player.He was the young player of the year before.
emma
August 20, 2009
Andy
i am jealous…..you are so lucky.
emma
August 20, 2009
andy , this kit means the world to me
lucky u
i have to give credit to the away arsenal fans last night as they were so loud and encouraging , especially in the 2nd half . Go Gunners 
mila , those goals were not only by luck , if we hadnt played good , we wouldnt have reached thier net , and if we hadnt scored those 2 goals , we would have scored another goal with our own plyers . arsenal played really good last night especially vermaelen who impressed me , to run the whole pitch from one end to the other end to save your team and prevent such a goal was phenomenal in every mean .:) credit to him . song , bendtner , denilson and fabregas were heros last night . at some point , arshavin looked really tired . rvp needs to score soon .
has anyone heard of the deal which was made betewwn arsenal and barcelona to sell cesc fabregas ?? cant they just leave him alone ??
GO GUNNERS
Deena
August 19, 2009
We all saw Celtic in the second half, no chance for the second match on home ground. CL groups here we come
On3 wAy
August 19, 2009
i didnt watch the match last night..
but most of the reports said that Arsenal was lucky to strike 2 goals in the game.. but i don’t think so cuz i watched the highlights & it seems like our boys really stepped up to their game last night (pls correct me if i’m wrong)..
i really like our boys now!! they’re becoming more toughier & more MAN.. hehe..
miLa
August 19, 2009
wow….the gunners is back.
happy for them esp .cesc.2 goals n 3 assists in 2 games….bravo.
Arshavin n vermalean really worth the money.
everytimes celtics knocked down gunners i winced…cesc,dennilson,song looked like miniature compared to them but our boys are very brave.good worked.
i think gunners wont let celtic win next week…..they will do it again esp at emirates.everybody is hungry for goals n defence is much in better state now with vermalean partnering gallas.
emma
August 19, 2009
yay TWO AWAY GOALS! that’s so precious it’s priceless hahaha. celtic will need to score at least 3 if they want to make a comeback, and at the emirates it isn’t that easy to score so many. cesc was fouled so many times, i hope he’s fine :/ glad to see that he had a good game!
SY
August 19, 2009
I caught Cesc Fabregas shirt during the Celtic match tonight, how much do you think that would be worth?
Andy
August 18, 2009
Vermaelen (aka the verminator) has been immense in the games I have seen him play. Him and Gallas seem to have formed a great partnership.The defence were pretty much solid throughout the game. What a relief that is to see after all of last season where the defence were pretty woeful. Gallas was brilliant tonight too.And lol at the first goal. ^^
Cesc’s work rate was top class today. And yay for him getting another assist. ^^ He got pushed about a bit by the celtic players.Especially in the second half. ¬_¬ Some of his passes went astray but I think overall he had a great game.
I’m hoping Celtic don’t make a comback…I think the two away goals make it very difficult for them to do so.
Plu
August 18, 2009
I thought we played really well but I have to admit we were lucky with the goals. Celtic played well, they always tried to win the ball back, even if they did tackle Cesc a hundred times. lol
What do you guys think? Will Celtic claim a comeback next Wednesday?
Rukhsana
August 18, 2009