The truth of the matter was that the game was over after the 90 minutes last Tuesday. Celtic would have had to produce a performance that would have been somewhat unrealistic

Arsenal 3 Celtic 1 – Champions League Qualifier 2nd Leg

What was a pretty comfortable 5-1 aggregate victory has turned into the ‘Eduardo storm’

As expected the media are firing at us from all angles. As I am writing this I am sat opposite a man reading the Daily Mail with ‘BAN EDUARDO’ splashed on the back page. It is insane yet the norm when it comes to an incident at Arsenal football club.

We have been watching the likes of Drogba, Ronaldo, Gerrard and Rooney diving all over the place in the last few years without much of a peep from Sky Sports, Match of the day etc especially about the ‘English lads’

Would the powers that be have the balls to punish Eduardo for something that it done every single Saturday?

I do not for one minute condone what Eduardo did, infact it made me feel somewhat uncomfortable but lets not allow others to try and burn him on a stake when it has been something that has crept into the Premier League for years.

Some with agenda’s will attempt to use the Eduardo incident as the moment that killed off Celtic but the truth of the matter was that the game was over after the 90 minutes last Tuesday. Celtic would have had to produce a performance that would have been somewhat unrealistic, especially given the fact that Wenger had used his squad to counteract their strength. Our creative passers were rested and a more physical looking Arsenal took to the field.

Song, Diaby, Eboue and Bendtner were all brought in to handle the rough stuff as well as add athleticism.

Celtic played very well and took the game to Arsenal, they whipped in many crosses to which Vermaelen dealt with very well.

Emmanuel Eboue had an exceptional game in what seemed at times as a free role, he popped up all over the pitch and drove at the heart of the Celtic midfield and defence. The idea that Eboue is talentless is very wide of the mark. We know his end product is not always what it should be compared to players like Cesc, Van Persie and Arshavin but his low center of gravity, strength and dribbling ability is there for all to see.

Bendtner’s awareness of Diaby running beyond him and his execution of the back heel was top notch and for once Eboue had the composure to take a touch beyond the defender and fire it in low past the chubby Boruc.

Arshavin and Wilshere came on in the 72nd minute and that brought spark to our play. The combinations going forward looked better, we passed it quicker and had more ideas.

Arshavin hasn’t quite clicked as yet, hasn’t found his range but he looked close in his cameo last night. His goal was very well taken. Looking up to see where his marker was and allowing the ball to roll across his body, to fire into the near post.

Denilson, Vermaelen and William Gallas were all outstanding as they have been throughout the season so far.

Celtic grabbed a nice consolation goal in stoppage time but we were down to ten men at the time with Ramsey pulled off due to injury.

So job done for Arsene’s Gunners, we now await the draw.