Wenger defends Eduardo

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
26 Aug	7:45 PM	CL	Celtic (H)	3	1	Win

Tonight's match against Celtic will not be remembered for the 5-1 aggregate hammering that Arsenal handed out, but for one incident that to be quite honest, didn't matter over the grand scheme of the tie.

To put it politely, Eduardo was adjudged to have used simulation to earn the penalty that opened the scoring tonight. However, even without the penalty, the Scottish visitors would have needed to score three goals to knock Arsenal out of the Champions League, and that is something that they did not accomplish.

Overall, it was a good match but Celtic were no match for an Arsenal side that were in no mood to give any ground or hope to their opponents. The goal at the end is disappointing (shades of dodgy defending again), but incidents like that need to be ironed out sooner rather than later.

And manager Arsène Wenger moved to defend Eduardo, a player whom this morning will surely be vilified by the press. Wenger maintains that whilst the decision to award the penalty was harsh, the Croatian international did not 'dive'.

Wenger said: "I do not want a penalty which is not a penalty, but I do not go as far to say Eduardo dived. From outside I must say it looked a penalty, but having seen it again on television, it doesn't look to be a penalty.

"But I must still say that we were likely always to score the first goal because Eduardo had a great chance before the penalty and we always looked in control of the game.

"I believe really that it was not a penalty but I am also not sure that the keeper didn't touch him with his right knee, having seen it again. He went down, for what reason I do not know. But I do not think he would have complained if the penalty was not given.

"Is it acceptable? I never asked in my life any guy to dive to win a penalty but sometimes the players go down because there is no other way to escape the tackling of the keeper. Sometimes they dive.

"We got a penalty two years ago in the quarter-final of the Champions League at Liverpool that made the difference when Ryan Babel dived, nobody ever apologised to us, it was a blatant dive and nobody spoke about it."

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray chose to congratulate his counterpart, rather than focus on that one incident of alleged gamesmanship that put the tie beyond his team's reach.

Mowbray added: "I have not seen a re-run of it (the penalty), so I can not sit here and complain about it. The referee has given it, but if the TV pictures show it should not have been given, then so be it.

"All the boys thought there was no contact, but we have to accept it and move on.

"However, you cannot deny that over the two legs, Arsenal had more quality and deserved to go through. The first goal was always going to be crucial. If we had got it, you would have had a more interesting spectacle.

"The fact that Arsenal scored it allows their real high quality players to relax a bit more and play at their own pace. When you try and play high up against such quality players, you are asking for trouble.

"That is the way it panned out - but I could not question the desire and effort of my team."

Onwards to Old Trafford. We now have bigger fish to fry.

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