Arsenal claim first win at new stadium
The win was Arsenal's first at the Emirates Stadium
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Wednesday, 23, Aug 2006 10:27
Goals from Freddie Ljungberg and Mathieu Flamini helped Arsenal claim their first win at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners had fallen behind to Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League tie but came back to win 2-1 on the night and go through 5-1 on aggregate.
Carrying a 3-0 lead from the first leg, if Arsenal were hoping they could cruise into the group stages of the competition, they were shocked on 12 minutes.
The Brazilian duo of Eto'o and Eduardo combined down the left and Eto'o's pull-back was not dealt with by Johan Djourou.
The ball fell inches from the Swiss defender and Eduardo was on hand to drill the ball past Manuel Almunia from 12 yards.
The goal added to the nerves which had hung around the home side from the start and they maintained their nervy approach for much of the first period.
Arsenal's best moments came through the feet of Robin van Persie and he almost levelled on 23 minutes.
Cesc Fabregas' floated free-kick was met by a poor punch by Ivan Turina.
The ball fell to the Dutchman but his shot was brilliantly deflected onto the bar by the sliding challenge of Mario Cvitanovic.
Turina then made up for his earlier error with two good saves, firstly from van Persie after a brilliant piece of skill from the striker and then from Ljungberg, who found himself in space after the ball broke to him in the area.
However, Eto'o and Eduardo combined again moments before the break and Zagreb almost found another goal, only for Eto'o to see his shot fly just wide.
Emmanuel Adebayor wasted a good opportunity seven minutes into the second-half as he found himself with space on the edge of the box.
However, with 14 minutes to go, Ljungberg marked his first game as captain by heading home van Persie's cross to level the game on the night.
Then in injury-time, substitute Theo Walcott's low cross from the right was calmly smashed home by Flamini from the edge of the six-yard box.