Arsene Wenger will not be booking flights for the final in Milan next May on the basis of this poor performance but at least it gave a perfect start to Arsenal's Champions League campaign thanks to a moment of magic from Silvinho.

The Brazilian left-back scored another memorable goal to put Arsenal on course for the second phase, but they will have to do better than this to survive with the best.

After two successive failures in the premier European club competition, a repetition is unthinkable for Arsenal. Yet they can hardly have expected such an easy ride against opponents who came into this match fresh from a fortnight's rest and with seven wins out of seven.

Arsenal's defence was still without the captain Tony Adams but Wenger was able to recall Patrick Vieira since the midfielder's five-game suspension applies only to domestic matches.

Not surprisingly Vieira and his team-mates spent much of the early stages on the back foot in a 20,000-seat stadium, packed despite a quadrupling of admission prices for the occasion.

Arsenal's tendency to concede possession hardly helped their cause, although Sparta seemed desperately to lack a cutting edge. When a mistake by Fredrik Ljungberg allowed Petr Papousek to present Marek Kincl with a clear sight of goal the striker sent his shot wildly off target.

For a team usually so full of pace and vitality in attack, Arsenal began disappointingly. A free-kick by Thierry Henry never threatened to beat Tomas Postulka and when Ljungberg atoned for his sloppiness by curling a cross on to Henry's head, the Frenchman nodded wide.

As the Arsenal players struggled to establish a rhythm Sparta grew in confidence, forcing several corners. From one Jiri Novotny brought out an instinctive save from David Seaman with a header, but shortly after the half-hour a piece of Brazilian brilliance changed the direction of the match.

There seemed no route to goal when Silvinho picked up a pass from Robert Pires near the left-hand edge of the penalty area. But the full-back expertly flicked the ball through his legs, manoeuvred it on to his favoured left foot and, after weaving past a couple of defenders, he lifted a shot over the advancing Postulka, the ball creeping in via a post.

Soon afterwards Nwankwo Kanu worked room on the edge of the area for a shot which Postulka palmed away. A Jiri Movotany header, which drifted wide of the far post early in the second half, offered a reminder to Arsenal that the game was far from won and also provided the signal for a sustained spell of Sparta pressure which left Arsenal looking increasingly vulnerable.

When Papousek's cross from the right found Kincl unmarked with only Seaman to beat, Wenger must have been grateful that the striker was again ponderous and that Martin Keown's strong challenge was deemed fair by the French referee.

Vieira lunged to make an important block when a Seaman punch was returned by Joses Obajdin from the edge of the area, and then Papousek summed up Sparta's weakness by shooting into the side netting when Pavel Novotny allowed him a clear sight of goal.

Sparta Prague: Postulka; Mynar (Flachbart, 85min), Bolf, J Novotny, Grygera; Papousek (Prohaszka, 79), Z Svoboda, P Novotny, Rosicky; Kincl (Siegl, 62), Obajdin.

Arsenal: Seaman; Dixon, Keown, Luzhny, Silvinho; Ljungberg (Vivas, 80), Grimandi, Vieira, Pires; Kanu, Henry (Wiltord, 77).

Referee: G Veissiere (France).