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Fabianski's errors cost Arsenal

Wed 17th, February 2010

Porto, Portugal (Sports Network) - A pair of goalkeeping mistakes by Arsenal's Lukasz Fabianski allowed FC Porto to claim a 2-1 win over Arsenal on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 matchup.

The Polish keeper put his team behind in the 11th minute when he fumbled a low cross from Varela over his own goal line, and after Sol Campbell equalized seven minutes later for the Gunners, Fabianski made another mistake early in the second half.

He picked up a back-pass from Campbell and then handed the ball over to Porto, allowing the hosts to quickly take the free kick and leaving a simple tap in for Radamel Falcao with Fabianski out of position.

The home side started well and they created two chances in the opening three minutes.

Only a last-ditch challenge from Campbell inside the penalty area denied Falcao a one-on-one opportunity with the goalkeeper, and just one minute later, Hulk collected a loose ball inside the area and fired just wide from 16 yards.

The pressure continued to mount for Porto, but they received a bit of a gift in the 11th minute when Varela sent a low cross into the box that caught Fabianski out of position.

The keeper strayed a bit too far off his line, and as he scrambled back to save the ball, he fumbled it over the goal line, putting Porto ahead.

It was a terrible error by the keeper, but Arsenal pulled level just seven minutes later.

Nicklas Bendtner's deflected shot went close to the upper corner, and the equalizer came from the ensuing corner kick as the ball was flicked on to Tomas Rosicky at the back post and he nodded it to the front of goal for Campbell to head home.

Bendtner then forced a good save from Porto goalkeeper Helton shortly before halftime when his flicked header needed to be pushed over the crossbar.

The second half began as openly as the first, but it was a bizarre incident that led to Porto snatching the lead.

Campbell played a short pass back to Fabianski, who made his first mistake by picking the ball up. This gave Porto an indirect free kick from inside the Arsenal penalty area, but instead of waiting for his teammates to recover and set up a wall, Fabianski handed the ball right to the referee.

Some quick thinking by Raul Meireles helped Porto capitalize on the error as he grabbed the ball from the referee's hand and played it immediately to Falcao, who rolled it into the empty net past a bewildered Fabianski.

The goal took some air out of Arsenal, and although they put together a good spell of pressure late in the game, they were not able to find the equalizer.

Wednesday's other game saw Bayern Munich snatch a late winner through Miroslav Klose to give the German club a 2-1 win over Fiorentina.

Arjen Robben fired Bayern ahead from the penalty spot shortly before halftime, but after the Italian side equalized five minutes after the break through Per Kroldrup, Massimo Gobbi was controversially sent off in the 73rd minute.

This allowed Bayern to claim the win in the 89th minute when Klose headed home a cross from Ivica Olic, although it appeared that the Bayern forward was easily offside.