Gunnerblog

Arsenal 3 - 1 Celtic: As meaningless a dive as you will see

288 guns August 27th, 2009

Arsenal 3 - 1 Celtic (agg 5-1) (Eduardo 28 (pen), Eboue 53, Arshavin, 74, Donati 90)
Highlights here; Arsene’s reaction here

Last night, to win the penalty that gave Arsenal the lead, Eduardo da Silva dived.

He subsequently scored the resulting spot-kick, before Arsenal went on to add a further two goals, rendering Massimo Donati’s spectacular late strike no more than a consolation.

Today, the back pages scream about Eduardo’s cheating in such a way that you would be forgiven for thinking it alone had decided the tie.  Sky Sports News’s yellow ticker tells you that the CEO of the Scottish FA wants Eduardo retrospectively banned, whilst Glenn Looven’s comments, which were he English would be deemed xenophobic, are just more firewood for the pyre the press are erecting for our Croatian striker.

Let’s start by making one thing clear: I do not approve of Eduardo’s actions.  I think what happened was that he anticipated contact from the goalkeeper and looked to exaggerate it to ensure the award of the penalty.  As it was, Boruc managed to avoid a trip and Eduardo went down regardless.  The referee, confused by Eduardo’s fall, incorrectly gave a spot-kick.

Perhaps Eduardo was wrong to be looking to win a penalty at all.  But he’s not the first, and he won’t be the last.

There are two things at play here:

1. It suits Celtic and Scottish football to pin the blame for the massive gulf in class between the two sides (and thus leagues) on one incident, whereas in fact they were out-classed over 180 minutes.

2. If Eduardo’s deceit had been spotted, and he had been booked for simulation, the incident would have been instantly forgotten.

With talk that UEFA will now a launch an investigation, perhaps it would be best if Eduardo receieved a retrospective ban.  If he accepted his punishment with grace and apologised for his actions, it would help hold back the tide of bad will that the press and opposition fans will send surging towards him.

It’s a shame that we’re talking about this when we ought to be focusing on another strong performance from an Arsenal side that sees us comfortably into this afternoon’s Champions League group stage draw.  The fact is: Celtic can bleat all they like, but this tie was over after their disastrous result in the first leg.

Our superiority was confirmed by two other excellent goals.  The first saw Nicklas Bendtner backheel into the path of Diaby, who touched off for Emmanuel Eboue to nudge it past the defender and fire home.  Then Andrey Arshavin, introduced as a substitute, scored within two minutes of his introduction by collecting a pass from Aaron Ramsey, spinning his man and tucking his shot into the corner - his first Arsenal goal since his fourth at Anfield.

The performances of the likes of Denilson, Eboue, and Eduardo show the degree of depth we are building in the squad.  I still feel that a centre-back and central midfielder wouldn’t go amiss, and perhaps the guarantee of Champions League money might convince Arsene to dip into the transfer market in the next few days.

Back later with reaction to the draw.

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