Arsenal overcome Celtic thanks to class of Cesc Fabregas and luck of William Gallas
Published 22:33 18/08/09 By By Martin Lipton
More a masterclass than a contest and far too easy to be enjoyable. But maybe Arsene Wenger’s years of promising his youth policy will come good were not just a triumph of hope over reality
And as Arsenal did what proper sides are supposed to do to, the further evidence of a new maturity in Wenger’s ranks will have warmed the Frenchman all the way back to London.
While U2, down the road at Hampden, took top billing in Glasgow last night, the fire in Arsenal’s bellies was unforgettable enough.
It might have required two bits of fortune to give them The Edge, with William Gallas knowing nothing about his deflected opener before Gary Caldwell put through his own net to turn the second leg into a formality.
Yet this was perhaps an even more composed and impressive display than they had delivered at Goodison on Saturday as they became the first English side to storm the Celtic citadel in 26 years.
Tony Mowbray’s men, urged on from the first kick, offered effort, desire and commitment. But those attributes are no substitute for the sort of genuine quality that Wenger has throughout his squad, already looking far more mature than they did last term.
Of course it helps when you have a man who can play with serene calm at the centre of the storm and the manner Cesc Fabregas laughed in the face of the Parkhead passion play symbolised the gulf in class.
By his own standards, the Arsenal skipper was slightly off the pace last season, seemingly frustrated by his awareness that Wenger’s team were not strong enough to really challenge.
Yet this time round, given the freedom to roam behind the attacking trident by the midfield ballast supplied by Denilson and the excellent Alex Song, Fabregas, like Wenger’s team, seems a different proposition.
Admittedly, Celtic, for all their fire and fury - and a series of fouls which provoked Wenger to even wave an imaginary card at one stager - proved to be as poorly equipped as prior evidence as suggested, with Thomas Vermaelen showing real assurance at the back.
Wenger’s prediction of a European Super League within the next decade may come true, but on this evidence it is hard to envisage Celtic or Rangers being part of it.
Scott Brown gave the watching Harry Redknapp no reason to burn a hole in Daniel Levy’s wallet, while Georgios Samaras has somehow managed to go backwards since he left Manchester City.
And when you are this badly outclassed, conspiring to hand over two gift goals simply gives a side no chance at all. Caldwell certainly has had better weeks than the past seven days.
In Oslo his red card sent Scotland tumbling down the World Cup abyss against Norway and when the centre-half stupidly and needlessly upended Fabregas two minutes before the break he might have known what was going to happen.
Fabregas let fly with power, although Artur Boruc had covered it, only for Gallas, attempting to get out of the way, to watch in delight as the ball pinged off his back and into the net.
Bad was to get worse for Caldwell 19 minutes from time as his attempt to cut out Gael Clichy’s cross merely succeeded in poking past the once-again stranded Boruc.
Yet while that was the killer blow, it was only emphasising the sheer gaping chasm between the sides as Arsenal hunted down the ball to force error after error.
Before the opener, Andrey Arshavin had a goal rightly ruled out for offside and at the start of the second period, Robin Van Persie, twice, and Nicklas Bendtner could all have put the game beyond Celtic before Caldwell’s misery did exactly that.
It was little more than a punctuation mark to demonstrate what was so apparent.
Game over. Tie over. Thanks very much. Arsenal’s top brass can book their flight to Monaco for next week’s group stage draw already.
And while there are still 14 more games and nine months to go before the Gunners can think of parading round the Bernabeu in triumph in May, the first hurdle could not have been cleared more adroitly.
Celtic: Boruc 6; Hinkel 6, Caldwell 5, Loovens 6, Fox 5; Brown 7, N’Guemo 6 (McCourt 76, 5), Donati 6 (McDonald, 56, 6), Maloney 6; McGeady 6; Samaras 5 (Fortune, 56, 6)
Arsenal: Almunia 7; Sagna 6, Gallas 7, Vermaelen 8, Clichy 6; Song 8, Denilson 7; Fabregas 8; Bendtner 6, Van Persie 7, Arshavin 7 (Diaby, 69, 6)
