1. 6-0 to the Arsenal just doesn't have the same ring to it, but if they keep hitting that scoreline it might take off soon. 2. Presumably Andrey Arshavin was attempting to cross the ball when he scored since everything else he did in the first half was wayward. 3. Marouane Chamakh should get a [...]

CL Highlights: Arsenal/Braga

Arsenal began their 2010-11 Champions League campaign with a home match against SC Braga. Rather than ruin some of the reader's day by providing a spoiler of what happened, feel free to watch the highlights of the game in the above video.

Share your observations about the game and the highlights in the comments section below.

Real Madrid decided to let go of another promising teenager as they sold Pablo Sarabia to Liga Zon Sagres runners-up SC Braga. The move will cost the Portuguese club €3m and will be completed in January during the transfer window. The Spaniard is the fourth high profile youngster to leave the Bernabeu and follows the footsteps of Alipio, Marcos Alonso and Rodrigo.

If you, like me, don't follow the Portuguese league or the early stages of the Champions League then you probably don't know much about Braga. That's the reason I was quite interested in listening to Arsene's opinion about our opponents on Wednesday night. These are the points I got from the press conference,

Braga are team that is physically strong, well organized, play with quick transition from defence to offence, and are good with shots from distance.

22 February 2011:
Copenhagen vs. Chelsea
Lyon vs. Real Madrid

The Champions League knockouts continue. Join the conversation below before, during and after the matches. The liveblog will start at 18:45 GMT, 1 hour before the matches kick off. You can sign up below for an email reminder.

As from the start of the 2010/2011 season, The Gunning Hawk can no longer embed match video highlights inside articles so all we can provide to our readers are links to websites which have uploaded ...

This was one of those rare games that falls in the category, Easier Done Than Said. Many expected Braga to put up a stronger challenge. Given their wins over Celtic and Sevilla in the qualifying stages it was a justified opinion. I thought the occasion, first time ever in the Champions League, got to them.

Chelsea strolled to a comfortable win away from home Wednesday in their opening game of the 2010-11 Champions League journey.

Despite some early scares in the game, Chelsea were soon able to cruise to victory thanks to goals from Michael Essien (again), two from Nicolas Anelka and one from Daniel Sturridge.

Most ties this week look fairly underwhelming on paper next to the classic Manchester United v. Liverpool match. But don't let that fool you into thinking that the Stoke City v. West Ham United match is going to be a massive sleeper. Other matches could very well end in tear-jerking boredom, while sum could very well experience an unforeseen upset presented to the football world.

I was looking around the net and this article by Robbie Savage caught my attention. The article written by Savage (and you have to ask what the hell does he know about football in the first place and what he has achieved to warrant a coloumn in the National Press) states that Chelsea were boring on Wednesday in the Champions League along with the Arsenal.

Absolutely no-one in the world predicted that West Brom would beat Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, so the quicker we draw the line under that one and forget it the better. So quickly on..... Tonights Champions League match at Partizan Belgrade could never be as easy as the 6-0 win over Braga, but surely the [.

Sporting Clube de Braga, commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. The club currently campaigns in the top-tier of Portuguese soccer, the Portuguese Liga. Featuring a heavily Brazilian line-up, SC Braga has won many fans with its 2010/11 UEFA Champions League run that [.

So the Interlull is over but a familiar new friend has reared its ugly head - The Injurelull. Yesterday it was revealed that Robin van Persie would be out until mid-October following the ankle knock he picked up against Blackburn.

What can you say other than there's nothing in the least bit surprising about it?

Injuries are always going to happen, but I'd much rather they happen now than a few months down the line.

If we are lucky Theo will just miss this weekends game against Bolton at home which is no real biggie, Robin van Persie will be missing for Bolton, Braga, Sunderland, Spurs, West Brom, Belgrade, Chelsea and Birmingham the majority of them we can survive without him.

Good morning to you. Regardless of the Interlull that last week seems to have just flown by. One day it was Monday and the next it was literally Friday.

The bad news about young Theodore was confirmed yesterday. He'll spend 4-6 weeks out with an ankle injury and Arsene Wenger revealed they were scared it might well have been more.

They say bad things come in three's

• Robin van Persie
• Theo Walcott
• Thomas Vermaelen

Three important players have not survived the international break, again, leaving us with two new defenders to face Kevin 'elbows' Davies. Apparently it is an achilles injury that Vermaelen has suffered and it is likely he will be back for Braga but it means that Sebastian Squillaci and Laurent Koscielny will have a tricky afternoon tomorrow, there are plenty easier players to play against than Davies.

If ever there was a game that went to Wenger's original plan it was surely today with Arsenal beating Bolton by what ended up being a comfortable three goal margin. In an interview just before the game in which Wenger announced the team he was asked if he had made his selection with one eye on the midweek game against Braga to which he was able to honestly answer, no, but had he been asked whether he had made it with both eyes on it he may well have had to fess up and say yes.

Well it was a very close run thing in the Just Arsenal Predict the Score competition against Bolton. ELEVEN players predicted the correct 4-1 scoreline and congrats to these readers: Vishan Amer Michael Plong WelshGunner Aniruddh Brother John Sanni Quadri AleGooner Djaytel Kevin Unsurprisingly nobody guessed that Laurent Koscielny would have scored the first goal and so it came down to who was the nearest to the [.

Arsenal 4 1 Bolton

We are winning matches this season that we have previously struggled with arent we?!

Cahill deserved to be sent off. He went in from behind with both feet off the ground. Silly really, considering the position that he gave the free-kick away.

We should have had the game wrapped up by half time.

Arsenal 4 1 Bolton

We are winning matches this season that we have previously struggled with arent we?!

Cahill deserved to be sent off. He went in from behind with both feet off the ground. Silly really, considering the position that he gave the free-kick away.

We should have had the game wrapped up by half time.

Sporting Braga's Brazilian striker Mattheus thinks that Arsenal are in for a surprise tomorrow night if they underestimate the Portugese underdogs, and the 27 year-old fully believes that Braga can take the points at the Emirates! "We have already achieved our first success of the season by reaching the group stages of the Champions League," Mattheus [.

Finally, a reason to look forward to Tuesday's and Wednesday's again. With The Champions League kicking off again tonight, it is hard for any football fan to get excited by what this year's European spectacle awaits us. The usual suspects are back in the form of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan all challenging to be lifting the most coveted trophy in Europe.

Finally, a reason to look forward to Tuesday's and Wednesday's again. With The Champions League kicking off again tonight, it is hard for any football fan to get excited by what this year's European spectacle awaits us. The usual suspects are back in the form of Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan all challenging to be lifting the most coveted trophy in Europe.

There is nothing but bad Arsenal injury news for tomorrows Champions League match against Braga at the Emirates. Thomas Vermaelen still hasn't recovered from his injury received playing for Belgium last week, and Abou Diaby is definitely going to be out for the next two games, and even Arsene Wenger has no idea when he [.

There is nothing but bad Arsenal injury news for tomorrows Champions League match against Braga at the Emirates. Thomas Vermaelen still hasn't recovered from his injury received playing for Belgium last week, and Abou Diaby is definitely going to be out for the next two games, and even Arsene Wenger has no idea when he [.

UEFA Champions League in the 2:30pm slot: MSK Zilina - Chelsea on Fox Soccer Channel (5pm - FS+), Arsenal - Braga on Fox Soccer Plus (5pm - FSE), and Real Madrid - Ajax on Fox Sports en Espanol (5pm - FSC). CONCACAF Champions League on TeleFutura: Toluca - Puerto Rico at 8pm. On FSC: Salt Lake - Toronto at 10pm.

Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby has admitted how relieved he was not to miss too much action due to an ankle injury sustained during a 4-1 Gunners victory over Bolton on Saturday.

Diaby suffered a strong challenge from fullback Paul Robinson, who will miss out on Arsenal's first Champions League group match against Braga in Emirates Stadium.

Right so, we'll start with the team news for tonight and as expected Abou Diaby misses the game after the Robinson challenge on Saturday. Also out is Thomas Vermaelen who hasn't recovered from his achilles problem picked up on international duty.

Johann Djourou played for the reserves in Manchester last night so that means the centre-half partnership of Squillaci and Koscielny will continue.

Como ya es costumbre debemos de ver el fútbol de la mejor calidad y este 2010 y 2011 habrá mucho fútbol internacional del mejor nivel.
Hagan sus apuestas y pronósticos europeos.

Martes 14 de Septiembre de 2010
FC Twente 2-2 Inter
Werder 2 -2 Tottenham
Lyon 1-0 Schalke 04
Benfica 2-0 H.

When was the last time we failed to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Champions League? Not being a historian I cannot tell you but it was a rare occurrence and some time ago. Which is why I am not over enthusiastic about tonight, it seems a diversion from the real target of the Premiership. I realise this is a purely subjective view but I would swap the winning of the CL for the PL (both would be best but unlikely).

By Ollie Irish

◄ Back Next ► Picture 1 of 9

Francesc Fabregas (centre) gestures while running with team mates during a training session at London Colney, Hertfordshire

Photos: PA

This is what it is: some pics of Cesc, Wilshere and co. jogging around a field in Hertfordshire ahead of tonight's Champions League group match against Braga, which I suppose the Gunners will win by a couple of goals.

Last night's Champions League action saw a surprising (in a negative way) draw for Manchester United versus Rangers and a surprising (in a positive way) draw for Spurs against Werder Bremen. Don't expect anything like that tonight though, with Chelsea playing MSK Zilina and Arsenal up against Portuguese League runners-up Braga.

In a rare moment of me saying something interesting on Twitter, I dredged up the statistic that Arsenal haven't lost at home to a foreign team since 2003. And a dark day that was. 40-odd quid to stand on the North Bank and watch Arsenal get spanked by Inter Milan.
But since then, part of the reason we are always a danger in the Champions League is that we are exceptionally hard to beat at home.

Having started their campaign in the English Premiership in style, Arsenal will today kick-off their Champions League adventure, at the Emirates, against Braga. The Portuguese side may look as easy opposition but easy they are not ...

The Game The Champions League kicks off today for Arsenal as we face Portugal's S.C. Braga in what promises to be an entertaining night of European football at the Emirates. With Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott and ...

Lineups are in:

Arsenal: Starters: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Koscielny, Squillaci, Song, Wilshere, Cesc, Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin Bench: Flaps, Rosicky, Vela, Denilson, Djourou, Eboue, Gibbs

Braga: Starters: Braga: Felipe, Rodriguez, Moises, Silvio, Garcia, Hugo Viana, Vandino, Matheus, Aguiar, Rosales, Alan Bench: David Madrid, Barbosa, Artur, Paulao, Lima, Mossoro, Elton

No real shockers in that lineup for us.

Was absolutely superb in Arsenal's 6-0 drubbing of Braga, not to mention 2 goals.

Image Source.

(Summary is not available.)

The Game Can it get any better than this? Maybe, but we're simply a goal machine at the Emirates and even though Braga looked like a Championship side at the back, it is the hungriness and ...

Lets first doff our cap to Cesc Fabregas. He orchestrated the first two goals. Scoring a penalty after Marouane Chamakh was brought down and then creating the goal for Andrei Arshavin. He was the midfield maestro pulling the strings.

Arsenal was undoubtedly helped by a generous Braga defense which gave them lots of space to roam.