Eduardo steals a late win in Liege

Arsenal staged a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to beat Standard Liege 3-2 in their Champions League Group H opener on Wednesday evening.

Croatia marksman Eduardo was the late match-winner - and was only available because the club successfully appealed against UEFA's two-match ban imposed for diving against Celtic in the second leg of the qualifying tie.

It had not looked good early on, though, as before Arsene Wenger's men could get going they trailed 2-0 only to fight back superbly with a well-taken goal from Nicklas Bendtner on the stroke of half-time, with Belgium international Thomas Vermaelen bundling in an equaliser and Eduardo then completing the revival 10 minutes from time.

The visitors continued to press and were getting more balls into the danger area, but they were still coming up against some resolute defending.

Then, in stoppage time, Abou Diaby charged towards the penalty area before slipping in Bendtner on the right.

The Danish striker drilled in a fine first-time shot into the far corner to give the small band of travelling Arsenal supporters hope.

However, it was Liege who almost got off to another flyer at the start of the second half, when Dieudonne Mbokani capitalised on a mistake by Alex Song to go clean through, only for Gael Clichy to make a last-gasp saving tackle.

At the other end, Bendtner lost out to Mangala in the race to a long ball up field from Rosicky.
Liege were playing a dangerous game, sitting back and inviting pressure while looking to break.
As the hour mark approached, Arsenal now faced a wall of 10 red shirts every time they went forward.

It was a scenario Arsene Wenger's men had faced all too often before, and once again they struggled for creativity.

However, the equaliser finally came in the 77th minute when a deep free-kick caused havoc in the Liege six-yard box and Vermaelen bundled it over the line.

Eduardo was denied by a fine save from Bolat and Vermaelen had an effort cleared off the line.
The Gunners, though, got what they deserved when Eduardo slotted in at close range from a corner to complete the comeback with 10 minutes to go.