This was the season when Arsene Wenger declared he was convinced that the club could win the Champions League.

This game was chosen for yesterday’s programme as it was the first time the teams had played each other in a competitive match.

Date: Tuesday 17 September 2002

Competition: UEFA Champions League stage 1 game 1

Location: Highbury

Attendance: 34,907

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden)

A rsenal 2 Borussia Dortmund 0

Bergkamp 62,

Ljungberg 77

Line-ups:

Arsenal:

D Seaman, O Luzhny (sub: Lauren 73 mins), M Keown, S Campbell, A Cole, Gilberto, P Vieira, F Ljungberg (sub: P Cygan, 84 mins), S Wiltord (sub: K Toure 89 mins), D Bergkamp, T Henry.

Unused substitutes: S Taylor, F Jeffers, J Pennant, Kanu.

Borussia Dortmund:

J Lehmann, Evanilson, C Metzelder, A Madouni, Dede, J Heinrich, S Kehl, Ewerthon (sub: G Reina 72 mins), T Frings, J R Fernandez (sub: H Herrlich 72 mins), J Koller.

Unused substitutes: R Weidenfeller, S Reuter, S Oliseh, D Odonkor, Leandro.

Match Report:

With the onus on the home team to put down a Champions League marker, the crowd and team endured just over an hour of frustration against a well-organised stubborn Borussia Dortmund before the goals arrived. At times Arsenal struggled to find their fluency but were rewarded for the patience and could have won by a larger score by the full time whistle.

In the first quarter of an hour Arsenal found Dortmund difficult to find a way past as the Double winners’ passing was awry. Matthias Sammer had clearly done his homework, detailing his team to pull behind the ball when Arsenal gained possession; Jorg Heinrich and Sebastian Kehl screening the back four. Dortmund’s cautious approach was allayed, using the speed of Ewerthon and Juan Ramon Fernandez, and the height of Jan Koller on the counter attack.

In the 25th minute a Dortmund corner was cleared and Sylvain Wiltord sent Thierry Henry towards goal, but a low save by Jens Lehmann kept it out. The Gunners began to offer more of a threat and shortly afterwards Henry got the chance to reciprocate as he played in Wiltord, but Lehmann saved the chipped effort well.

Dortmund threatened before the interval as, in the 35th minute, a Torsten Frings cross that was heading for Fernandez was blocked by Oleg Luzhny, and then five minutes later Fernandez eluded Sol Campbell to hit a rising shot over the bar that had David Seaman beaten, though he was otherwise untroubled in the first half.

After the break the speed of both Freddie Ljungberg and Henry continually threatened the German champions and, after a Gilberto through ball, Henry had the ball in the net just after half-time but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Arsenal were dominating more and more of the possession when the breakthrough arrived in the 62nd minute in the shape of Dennis Bergkamp’s first goal of this season. Wiltord’s pass from the edge of the area ran to Bergkamp, via a Ljungberg step over, allowing the non-flying Dutchman to rifle past Lehmann by way of a Christoph Metzelder deflection.

In the 77th minute Ljungberg secured the win in his first start of the season after recuperating from post-World Cup hip surgery. An end-to-end move began with David Seaman’s throw which set Wiltord racing down the right, and he fed Thierry Henry whose instant touch sent Ljungberg through to round the keeper and slide home.

Quotes

Pre match:

In his programme notes for this first game of the new Champions League campaign Arsene Wenger stated: “[Other managers] perhaps think they will win it but they don’t say it…But I will, because I’m convinced we can win it. The desire is there, the experience is there, so we can give it everything and go and win it.”

This was backed up by Patrick Vieira who said: “You have to show that you’ve learned from previous years and the experience of the Champions League. It’s time for us to show that we are a great side.”

Post Match:

Following the game Arsene Wenger explained that he had no worries despite the goals taking a while to come: “It was a good performance because we never allowed ourselves to become too frustrated. We improved slowly, gradually, and got more into it in the second half. At this level, patience can be the difference between success and failure. We were very patient.”

And Patrick Vieira echoed his thoughts: “We have learnt a lot from the last couple of years in the Champions League and we showed that in the way we didn’t panic. Even though it was 0-0 for a long time we knew that we would score because the players we have up front mean we can score at any time.”

Wenger also explained that there was an element of risk with including Freddie Ljungberg: “I included him in the starting line-up, which was a bit of a gamble. But I took it because I knew he would add something to the team going forward and relieve Thierry and Sylvain of some of the goal-scoring duties.”

Dortmund manager Matthias Sammer summed up his team’s performance in three short sentences: “We were not aggressive enough. We lacked courage. We must learn from this.”

Facts about linked to the match or players:

Arsenal went into this first competitive match between these teams as the English double winners, while Dortmund were the reigning Bundesliga champions and had narrowly missed out on winning the UEFA Cup the previous season.

This was the fifth season in a row that Arsenal had qualified for the Champions League but the first time they were drawn to play the first game at home.

Future Arsenal goalkeeper and ‘Invincible’ Jens Lehmann was in goal for Dortmund in this game.

The rest of the Champions League run:

Arsene Wenger had been bold enough to say the team would win the Champions League this season, and, in the first stage, which also included PSV Eindhoven and Auxerre in the group, Arsenal finished top with Dortmund second allowing both to qualify for the second group stage. In their respective second stage groups Arsenal and Dortmund both finished third and eliminated from the competition.

In the return match, which Dortmund won 2-1, current Arsenal favourite Tomas Rosicky scored the winner for Dortmund from the penalty spot.

Facts relating to 2002-03 Season:

“We love you Freddie cos you’ve got red hair” was no longer heard around Highbury, not because the sentiment was no longer felt, but due to his rather severe new haircut which removed the red dye.

Arsenal started the season with a new captain for the first time in 15 years as Patrick Vieira took over the armband from Tony Adams who had retired in the summer.

This was the last season that UEFA used the two group stages format for the Champions League.

World Cup winner Gilberto Silva immediately endeared himself to the Arsenal fans when he scored the only goal in the Community Shield against Liverpool.

Background to the article

This season we’ve been asked to write a regular page in the official Arsenal programme based on a classic match featuring the opponents for each game we play in. Programme editor Andy Exley has kindly given us permission to reproduce the match reports on our blog. We will also be including additional material that didn’t make the final edit of the programme. If you can’t get to The Emirates, the programme is available on iPad and iPod for a bargain 69 pence per issue.

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