Arsenal Down Juventus 2-0

On the strength of goals by Spanish teen sensation Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry, coupled with a self-destructive Italian side, Arsenal have gone ahead by 2 goals in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and spoiled Patrick Vieria's return to Highbury.

Using the Highbury crowd to their advantage, the Gunners were able to maintain their tight defense, in the seventh straight game without allowing a goal. That accomplishment along pars them with AC Milan's record from last year.

Juventus was already looking at an uphill battle for this match, as their star striker, Alessandro Del Piero, and superstar midfielder Pavel Nedved, were unable to start due to injury and suspension, respectively. Nonetheless, Zlatan Ibrahimovich, David Trezuguet and Mauro Camoranesi would be sure to provide plenty of offensive punch to the Serie A champions.

Juventus would waste little time in attacking, launching their attacks on the unprecedented number of turnovers provided by Arsenal. The pace of the game would remain cautiously slow, as the two teams weren't eager to make mistakes.

Chances started up for Arsenal around the quarter-hour mark, with Fabregas narrowly missing a shot, a good save from Gianluigi Buffon, and a narrowly missed free-kick by Thierry Henry. After a clever dispossession by Robert Pires, he fed the ball forward to the Gunners' captain, who placed the ball square in Cesc Fabregas' line. Fabregas made no mistake, putting a low ball past Buffon, and putting the only remaining English side up 1-0 at the 40-minute mark.

Coming out after the second half, Juve seemed to be a more determined side, with Ibrahimovic pressing for the tying goal, only to be frustrated by the defensive tackles of Kolo Toure. However, after weathering the Italian attack, Arsenal brought one of their own.

At the hour-mark, Jose Antonia Reyes worked with Cesc Fabregas to find Thierry Henry open on the right side of the net. His smooth kick would have assured the English side of a 2-0 advantage, had it not been for the speedy hand of Buffon knocking the shot away. Buffon went on to stop both Reyes and Fabregas with his legs, keeping Juve within striking distance.

In the 69th minute, Arsenal' frustrations would end, as Aleksandr Hleb fed a ball forward to Fabregas, who ran on to challenge the Italian goalkeeper. As Buffon came out to challenge, Fabregas unselfishly flipped the ball to the experienced striker Henry, who made no mistake in giving Arsenal a 2-0 advantage.

Juventus only managed to compound their problems towards the end of the match, as Mauro Camoranesi and Jonathan Zebina both received red cards for tackles, removing any chance the Italian side had of reducing the deficit. As well, Patrick Vieria earned a yellow card for a challenge on Cesc Fabregas, which will see him miss the return leg of the quarter-final at the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin.

In an interview with ITV, Arsenal's coach, Arsene Wegner, said "It was a great night for us. We wanted to play well defensively and score goals and we combined both. I'm very happy with the performance of the team and the togetherness but there was also fluency and speed and the technical quality was very high in patches." However, Wegner was careful not to dismiss the Italian juggernauts. "I rate our chances 50/50 to go through and winning the tournament is a long way away. Juventus will try to come at us and we will try to score goals out there. "

Speaking about former Arsenal great, Patrick Vieria, Wegner said "It wasn't my target tonight to justify selling Patrick. He is a tremendous player and you never lose a player like that without suffering a bit. But another team was born and is growing slowly. Football is like that." Arsene Weger "didn't have time to see him. When you lose you leave people alone but maybe there will be more time next week because he is suspended" Wegner was also quoted by Fox Sports as saying "Patrick Vieira is a good player but he suffered tonight because we are a good team."

ITV also had a chance to talk to Juventus boss Fabio Capello about the match. "Arsenal were very lively tonight, especially coming into the game after nine days without playing a match. The tie is still alive and my team need a big game in Turin." Capello was frustrated about some of the late bookings his side received. "I cannot explain Camoranesi's red card. I felt it was clear and he shouldn't have done it, but Zebina was not a red card. I believe he was just late and it wasn't intentional."

The second half of this UEFA Champions League quarter-final will go April 5th, at the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin.

[Additional Sources: ITV, Fox Sports]