Braga 2 Arsenal 0:Arsenal suffered a shock Champions League 2-0 defeat to Braga at Estadio Municipal tonight. The Gunners — beaten by rivals Tottenham on Saturday — had been top of Group H and thrashed the Portuguese side 6-0 in their opening fixture.
However, a much-changed side never hit top gear but were denied a cast-iron penalty by Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai before Braga scored two late breakaway goals from Brazil striker Matheus, leaving Arsenal not yet certain of their place in the last 16.
Arsene Wenger had made seven changes from the team which threw away a 2-0 lead at home to Spurs, including a return for Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner, who had previously hit out at a lack of opportunities.
The Estadio Municipal was carved out of the Monte Castro quarry ahead of Euro 2004, making for a stunning setting. However, the stadium was well below its 30,000 capacity and hardly produced a hostile atmosphere for the Gunners, who won in Belgrade earlier this season but were beaten in their last away European tie at Shakhtar Donetsk.
Braga took inspiration from Arsenal to change their kit to red and white in 1921, but it was the men in yellow who started brightly as Theo Walcott looked dangerous down the right.
After 18 minutes, Walcott flicked the ball on to Bendtner, who played Cesc Fabregas into the right side of the area, but the Arsenal captain was off balance and fired his angled shot over. The visitors continued to enjoy plenty of possession, but were not creative enough in the final third.
As the half-hour mark approached, Walcott again scampered away down the right before cutting the ball back across the six-yard box, but Bendtner was unable to make up the ground.
On 34 minutes, the Fabregas delayed his pass on the counter-attack to release Walcott into the Braga box, but Felipe was out quickly to make the block.
At the other end Lima flashed a 20-yard drive wide before Bendtner went down 25 yards out, only for Fabregas to drill the free-kick wide. As the hour mark approached, Fabregas turned on the edge of the penalty area to make space for a shot, which drifted wide.
On 69 minutes, Wenger made a change when Nasri replaced Fabregas, who had been troubled by a hamstring complaint and went straight to the changing room.
Mexico winger Carlos Vela was sent on for Walcott and immediately found himself booked for diving by the referee when it seemed a clear trip by Alberto Rodriguez in the area.
And Braga rubbed salt into Arsenal’s wounds with seven minutes remaining as they snatched a goal on the break. While Emmanuel Eboue was off the pitch needing treatment on an ankle injury, Matheus scampered clear to beat Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal were forced to play on with 10 men, but despite throwing everything forward they could not find a way back and were again hit on the break in stoppage time.
Wenger was angered by the display of the officials, hitting out over both the non-award of the penalty and the foul on Eboue in the build-up to the first goal.
“We are going through a period where we have bad luck, we had Eboue kicked off the park without any punishment and we also had the penalty turned down,” he said. “What was the fifth official doing? We have another proof that it is absolutely useless, this system.
“Then when we were 10 against 11, we made a mistake at the back, there was a minimum of communication and that’s where we were punished.”
Injuries added to the pain of the defeat as, in addition to the loss of Eboue, Fabregas’ fitness problems resurfaced in the second half.
“It is a hamstring injury — on the other leg — so it’s difficult to predict how long he will be out for,” Wenger continued.
“Eboue will be out for a few weeks because he took a very bad tackle, unpunished. It is a medial knee ligament injury.”
The Gunners now need to beat Partizan to be sure of progressing from the group and their manager admitted: “It is a concern, but we’ll make it.”