Arsenal - 0 Deportivo - 2:Arsenal will go to Juventus next week knowing they have to match Bayer Levenkusen's result away to Deportivo to reach the Champions League semi-finals after failing to capitalise on the chance to secure their passage last night.
Victory over Deportivo La Coruna would have been enough, but two goals in the first half by the Spanish club sent Arsenal to their first defeat in any competition since December.
After a bright Arsenal start, classy Deportivo produced excellent football to score through Juan Carlos Valeron and Noureddine Nayvet. A penalty miss by Thierry Henry after 65 minutes summed up an evening of crushing disappointment for Arsenal on which they never scaled their recent heights.
Arsène Wenger seems to have scarcely entertained the notion that his team might not win. "I believe we will beat La Coruna," he said on the eve of the match.
Such bold statements always run the risk of looking daft in hindsight, but it was easy to understand why the Frenchman had been filled with such confidence.
Arsenal had won their previous seven Champions League fixtures at Highbury, and the ruthlessness with which they had beaten Bayer Leverkusen two weeks ago was impressive. Moreover, Deportivo were beaten here 5-1 in the UEFA Cup only two seasons ago.
Here they could have been a goal down inside five minutes as Arsenal sought to repeat their outstanding start against Leverkusen. A typically swift, sweeping move involving Sylvain Wiltord and Henry culminated in Robert Pires having a low-shot well saved.
Pires then set up Dennis Bergkamp for a magnificently conjured volley just over, and the early quality of Arsenal attacking looked promising.
Yet it was by no means one-way traffic. Deportivo showed in their 2-0 win over Arsenal in Spain that they possessed great technical ability and dangerous forwards. Their passing here was crisp, and, in Fran, Valeron and Diego Tristan, they possessed livewire players on the counter.
How lively became plain as the first half wore on. Arsenal saw their own threat dip dramatically and Deportivo slowly took control. The Brazilian Mauro Silva was doing an important holding job in front of his back four and played a key role when Deportivo scored their first after 31 minutes.
An error in possession by Wiltord helped Deportivo on their way and Mauro Silva's back flick started a swift breakaway. A fine move down the left culminated in the full back Enrique Romero crossing for Valeron to score with a precise low shot.
As Arsenal's attack looked increasingly laboured and hurried, Deportivo played incisive, possession football of the highest order. Repeatedly they cut Arsenal's defence apart in a manner that no Premiership team has managed of late.
Only a fine save by David Seaman denied Valeron before Deportivo scored again.
Interplay on the edge of the area culminated in the centre-back Naybet, a Morocco international, finding the net with a low shot which deflected off Igors Stepanovs. Highbury was stunned.
Arsenal knew they had to pour forward in an attempt to rescue what looked a lost cause but their attempt to breach Deportivo's defence came to nothing early in the second half.
Bergkamp produced an enterprising chip to send Pires scuttling towards goal but Molina was quickly off his line to smother the danger.
In truth it was Deportivo who looked the likeliest to score on the counterattack. Seaman had to be alert to save from Tristan who left Stepanovs statuesque, and needed to produce another good stop to deny Sanchez Victor. Then Tristan struck Arsenal's bar from a free-kick.
Wenger made a double substitution in the hope of finding inspiration, bringing Kanu and Freddie Ljungberg, and it might have paid instant dividends when Ljunberg made a characteristically sharp run into the area and won a penalty when felled by Molina. It was typical of Arsenal's night, though, that Henry's penalty was weak and easily saved.
Guardian Service
ARSENAL: Seaman, Luzhny, Stepanovs, Campbell, Lauren, Wiltord (Kanu 64), Vieira, Grimandi (Ljungberg 64), Pires, Henry, Bergkamp. Subs Not Used: Wright, Dixon, Edu, Inamoto, Tavlaridis. Booked: Vieira.
D CORUNA: Molina, Scaloni, Cesar, Naybet, Romero, Sergio, Mauro Silva, Victor, Valeron (Duscher 79), Fran (Capdevila 71), Tristan (Makaay 85). Subs Not Used: Nuno, Djalminha, Helder, Hector. Booked: Victor, Sergio, Scaloni, Molina, Naybet. Goals: Valeron 30, Naybet 40.
Referee: Urs Meier (Switzerland).
