Arsenal made hard work of their 2-1 victory over Steaua Bucharest but still qualify for the knockout stage as runners-up.
Van Persie impresses on return
Arsenal made hard work of their 2-1 victory over Steaua Bucharest but still qualify for the last 16 as runners-up.
The Gunners were rampant for the opening hour and led 2-0 courtesy of goals from Abou Diaby and Nicklas Bendtner.
Diaby fired them ahead after eight minutes after good work from Theo Walcott.
Bendtner added a second in the 41st minute rounding off some good work from Robin van Persie, who impressed on his return from injury.
But Steaua sub Dorel Zaharia's 68th minute header sparked life into the visitors and they had the better of the final 20 minutes.
And Ovidiu Petre went agonisingly close to levelling five minutes from the end with a curling 25 yard shot that was only inches wide of Jens Lehmann's right-hand post.
Arsenal started brightly and Walcott was presented with a glorious early opportunity following a superb pass from Van Persie but steered his low shot wide from just inside the box.
Sublime
The England Under 21 star was soon in the thick of the action again when he skipped through the Steaua defence but was put off just at the moment of delivery and skied a shot over the bar.
The goal, though, came soon enough. They may change personnel, but Arsenal always move the ball about with sublime ease, and this time fed Bacary Sagna on the right.
His low centre picked out Diaby in the six-yard box, and the Frenchman - just fit again from a back problem - simply took a touch to power past two Steaua defenders and blast the ball back across goal into the top left corner.
With whipping boys Bucharest already out - much to the disgust of owner Gigi Becali, currently on his third coach of the season in Romania legend Marius Lacatus - there was little offered in the way of attacking threat from the visitors.
Lehmann, back for the first time since 19th August, was a virtual spectator in the Arsenal goal.
With 10 minutes left to the interval, Van Persie - who had seven goals before his injury - made space for a shooting chance from the penalty spot but his effort curled just wide of the left-hand post.
Cool
Arsenal eventually went 2-0 up following another slick passing move on 42 minutes. Denilson fed Van Persie just outside the penalty area and he laid the ball out to Bendtner on the overlap down the right.
The big Dane showed extremely good close control to ride a sliding challenge before coolly slotting his low shot past Steaua keeper Robinson Zapata into the far corner.
Arsenal continued to look the more likely to extend their lead during the second half, Bendtner and Van Persie both just unable to get on the end of a long ball which had Zapata racing out of goal.
However, Steaua at least made a game of it with 21 minutes left when substitute Zaharia netted with a looping header from a deep left-wing cross.
Although Petre went close with a long-range effort, to concede a second goal would have been rough justice on Arsenal.
Indeed, had both Walcott and Eduardo, on for Van Persie, shown greater composure in front on goal during injury time, the scoreline could have reflected more Arsenal's superiority.
| Arsenal |
Team Statistics |
Steaua Bucharest |
| 2 |
Goals |
1 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 4 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 5 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 7 |
Corners |
0 |
| 10 |
Fouls |
19 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
11 |
| 1 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 84.1 |
Passing Success |
80.1 |
| 17 |
Tackles |
36 |
| 70.6 |
Tackles Success |
83.3 |
| 54.1 |
Possession |
45.9 |
| 57.9 |
Territorial Advantage |
42.1 |
|
