It felt so disappointing to end up with only a point after scoring a sublime goal then hanging on superbly for so long, but in the cold light of day to finally get a point on our travels in Europe has to be a plus. The 4 teams are all level still with Depor drawing in Turin thanks to a missed penalty from Del Piero. But we have 2 out of 3 games at home and the hardest remaining fixture (away in Turin) is last. If our good home form (in Europe, at least!) can continue, we should, with luck, be virtually there by the time of that Juve match.

David Seaman made his long-awaited comeback, with Sven Goran Eriksson watching from the stands. Presumably it was felt that his experience would be a particular asset behind a makeshift defence. Up front Kanu was preferred to Bergkamp, who must have wondered why he made the trip (although with it being so close to Holland, perhaps he got to visit some relatives on the way). Alongside Campbell, Igors Stepanovs was preferred to Grimandi. And the pair of them defended superbly for the most part, getting in many many excellent blocks. Distribution a bit dodgy though, and Igors had a couple of crucial dodgy moments which I'll describe below.

Arsenal managed to start the game without the lethargic appearance of previous away European matches, and went in deserving at least the 0-0 they had at half time. Then Robert Pires scored a great opener. He brought the ball forward down the middle from halfway, and slipped it forward and to the right for Wiltord. Sylvain tricked his marker and got past him before knocking it into spave on the 6 yard line. Pires had continued his run past Henry and into that space, and just helped the ball into the net.

Arsenal were looking well worth the lead, but everything changed when Ray Parlour got sent off. His first yellow card was well deserved, and he could have been shown a couple more after that. But in the end it was a blatant dive just outside the box which earned the second booking. Parlour's first challenge on Basturk appeared to get the ball, but then the Turk threw himself to the ground. There may have been the slightest of upper-body contacts, but not enough to slow a man down never mind send him sprawling like that.

To be fair to the German side, they should have had a penalty when Stepanovs capped a (mostly) fantastic performance with a great fingertip save which fortunately the ref didn't see.

Well into the last minute they pinched an equaliser. A diagonal cross from deep cleared Sol and his marker, and a momentary hesitation by Stepanovs allowed Kirsten in front of him to poke the ball home. Quite a good finish as the ball bounced a bit early for him and was on the rise when he caught it.

For those who followed the headline expecting news about a manufactured pop band, we do have confirmation that several members of S Club 7 are Gooners. A couple of them were already listed on our famous Celebrity Gooners page, and Mark saw them in concert the other day (taking his daughter, is the claim) wearing natty converted DreamCast tops. See these pictures of Paul and Rachel. I reckon the latter will be on a few Gooner's wallpapers by the end of the day... More pictures coming too, according to the fansite). Looks like Tina and Jon are moaners though, and Hannah's a Cov fan (see more pictures).