Arsenal frustrated as Greeks nick point

Arsenal 1 Panathinaikos 1

Arsenal were held to a Champions League draw by Greek champions Panathinaikos for the second time in a fortnight at Highbury.

A fortnight ago in Athens Arsenal twice lost the lead to Panathinaikos and tonight they once again failed to close out the victory.

Thierry Henry converted a 15th-minute penalty but Panathinaikos left London with a point after Pascal Cygan had deflected a long-range effort from Loukas Vyntra past Jens Lehmann.

Earlier Basinas missed a penalty for the Greek side.

The result left Arsenal three points behind PSV Eindhoven in Group E.

Afterwards Arsenal’s Freddie Ljungberg admitted he was disappointed to see his side lose the lead for a second Champions League match in a row against Panathinaikos.

“It’s a bit of luck on the goal, it’s hard to concede goals like that and of course we are not happy with it,” Ljungberg told ITV.

“They were defending very, very deep so it’s quite difficult to create clear-cut chances like we usually do.

“We put pressure on them but maybe when we cross the ball we need more bodies in the box but that’s not how we want to play.”