A first-half strike by top scorer Francesc Fabregas along with a goals from Robin van Persie and Eduardo gave the Gunners a 3-0 win and sent the London club to the top of Group H. The win gives Arsenal the edge to qualify on top of their group and advance to the next round. Although this is just the first of 6 games in the round robin round of 32, it’s a massive mental edge for the London club. However it was the Spanish club that started optimistically, in the sixth minute when winger Jesus Alves fired a spectacular effort narrowly over the crossbar with Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia floundering. But in the 27th minute Faregas converted the home side’s territorial advantage into a goal, with van Persie following in the 54th minute & Croatia international Eduardo put the icing on the cake for Wenger’s men deep into injury time.
In other results :Barcelona beat Lyon 3-0, AS Roma beat Kiev 2-0, Man Utd beat Sporting Lisbon 1-0, PSV beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 while Inter lost 0-1 to Fenerbache.