Eduardo returns to haunt former club Arsenal

Eduardo da Silva ended Arsenal’s 100 percent start in the Champions League as the Croatian’s clinical strike gave Shakhtar Donetsk a 2-1 win over his former club on Wednesday.

Eduardo spent three injury-ravaged years at Arsenal before moving to Shakhtar in July and the 27-year-old forward showed his old team-mates he is still a force to be reckoned with by driving in the goal which dented their charge towards the knockout stages.

Arsene Wenger’s side had taken the lead through Theo Walcott’s superb finish early in the first half at the Donbass Arena, but Craig Eastmond’s own goal drew Shakhtar level before Eduardo won it for the Ukrainian champions.

It was a bittersweet moment for Eduardo, who retains fond memories of Arsenal for the way he was cared for in the aftermath of the horrendous injury he suffered in a challenge with Birmingham’s Martin Taylor in 2008.

But, while he refused to celebrate his winner, Eduardo was the toast of Donetsk for a goal that lifted his side level on points with group leaders Arsenal with two games to play.

After romping through their first three group matches, Wenger knew a victory here would have secured Arsenal’s place in the last 16.

But that always looked a tricky task as the Gunners had never won in four previous visits to the Ukraine and Shakhtar have a formidable home record, with no defeats in their last 48 games in front of their own fans.

Injuries to midfield trio Cesc Fabregas, Alex Song and Andrey Arshavin were also a significant blow, yet Wenger’s men initially seemed set to silence the vociferous home support.

The Gunners were quickly into their stride and Samir Nasri hit a post before Walcott embarked on a scintillating counter-attack to open the scoring in the 10th minute.

Jack Wilshere laid the ball into the path of Walcott as Arsenal broke from a Shakhtar corner and the England winger sprinted clear of the home defence before sliding a low finish past Andriy Pyatov from just outside the penalty area.

At that point Arsenal looked in control, but Shakhtar were able to wrestle back the momentum in impressive fashion.

They nearly equalised when Jadson’s headed against a post from close range and from the resulting corner, Lukasz Fabianski made a brilliant reaction save to deny Dimitro Chygrynskiy.

Shakhtar’s equaliser arrived in the 28th minute after Emmanuel Eboue tripped Jadson.

Jadson took the set-piece himself and whipped over a teasing delivery that Chygrynskiy met with a powerful header which Eastmond could only glance into his own net.

Arsenal were struggling to keep the hosts at bay now and a woeful piece of defending by French left-back Gael Clichy gifted Shakhtar the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Clichy had time to clear from deep inside his own half, but instead opted to take an extra touch, allowing Darijo Srna to steal possession and drill over a low cross that Eduardo swept past Fabianski.

Eduardo had also scored in Shakhtar’s 5-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium two weeks ago and once again he refused to show any joy even though this was a far more important goal.

There was more frustration for Arsenal after the interval as England midfielder Wilshere missed a glorious chance to equalise when he robbed Willian on the edge of the area, only to bend the ball wide.

Wenger sent on Mexican forward Carlos Vela to replace Eastmond as he tried to spark his side back into life.

But Arsenal wasted their last chance to level when Sebastien Squillaci headed Nasri’s cross straight at Pyatov from close-range.