Borussia Dortmund

A fantastic start to this season's Champion's League campaign. This game took place at Highbury, on Tuesday 17th September at 7:45pm. Attendance was 34,907.

Final result was 2-0. Arsenal's goalscorers were Bergkamp (62') & Ljunberg (77').

Here's the Arsenal.com report: "Freddie Ljungberg made a goal-scoring return to the Arsenal side as we edged past Borussia Dortmund in a tense Champions League opener at Highbury on Tuesday night. Although he had been named in the squad, the Swede was a surprise starter in Arsene Wenger's team after recovering from a hip injury he sustained in the World Cup. But Ljungberg was back to his probing, bustling best and, after Dennis Bergkamp's 62nd minute opener had broken the resolution of a determined Dortmund side, he rolled in the all-important second with 13 minutes to go. The crowd rose in unison when he was substituted soon afterwards. Highbury was also a cacophony of noise at kick-off. European nights always bring the best out of the home support but the visiting fans, all decked out in yellow and black, were in fine voice as well. Our supporters had the most to shout about early on but, despite pacy runs from Henry and Ljungberg, the deep-lying Dortmund defence coped comfortably. Indeed, the German side had the first sight of goal when Dede's fast-rising free-kick whistled just wide after 20 minutes. Our first real opportunity came from a clearance by Wiltord seven minutes later. Henry collected the ball just inside his half, sprinted to the edge of the box and forced a scrambling save from Jens Lehmann with a low drive from 25 yards. Shortly afterwards we should have gone ahead. On 32 minutes, Ljungberg muscled his way past two defenders just inside the Dortmund half then hooked the ball to the unmarked Henry. He advanced to the edge of the area then drew the solitary defender before feeding Wiltord. The former Bordeaux striker is averaging a goal per game this season but this time, Lehmann rushed out to block his effort. However, just before the break, Juan Ramon Fernandez illustrated Dortmund's ambition when his 30-yard rocket shot flew inches over the bar. Henry had the ball in the net at the start of the second half but the linesman had already flagged for offside. The Frenchman then fired a free-kick over the bar after the lively Ljungberg had been felled inches outside the area. The crowd's patience was just starting to stretch as we reached the hour mark goalless. We just needed a spark of inspiration or a little luck. In the end the recipe for our opener included a dash of both ingredients. Wiltord collected the ball from a throw, exchanged passes with Gilberto and played a cute ball toward Ljungberg, who was galloping across the D of the area. His dummy allowed Bergkamp to gather and his swivelling shot flew over Lehmann via a deflection from Metzelder. Suddenly the game changed. Dortmund had to break out of the defensive shell they had retreated towards after the interval. They peppered our goal area with crosses but the defence, and Martin Keown in particular, rose to the challenge. Of course this left gaps in the Dortmund defence. Ljungberg pulled his shot across the face of goal after being sent clear by Bergkamp then Henry shot wide from Wiltord's cross. Soon afterwards came our crucial second. After collecting a corner, David Seaman quickly bowled the ball to Wiltord who burst into the Dortmund half before finding Henry with a cross-field pass. He then fed Ljungberg who, in typical fashion skipped past the keeper and rolled the ball into a empty net. A classic Arsenal counter-attack. Dortmund briefly threatened in the dying minutes when Evanilson tested Seaman and Guiseppe Reina's cross flew across the face of goal. But patience, composure, talent and little luck had been enough for us to take all three points."