Jens Lehmann’s Champions League curse returned to haunt Arsenal on Wednesday as two mistakes by the big goalkeeper forced the Gunners to settle for a 2-2 draw against Panathinaikos.
Lehmann, who was at fault in two matches in the tournament last season, was blundering again with the German set to take the rap for both the Greeks’ goals.
Freddie Ljungberg had put Arsenal ahead in the first half before Lehmann’s latest howler handed the Greeks a deserved equaliser.
A goal 16 minutes from time by stand-in skipper Thierry Henry seemed to have given Arsenal the three points, but in the 82nd minute, Polish international Emmanuel Olisadebe, a second-half substitute, rose unopposed to head in a second equaliser with Lehmann again caught napping.
”It’s difficult to make judgements just after the game but I will speak to Jens,” said Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger. ”We will see what happened but if you make mistakes at the back, you will get punished.”
The point meant Arsenal slipped to second place in group E, a point behind PSV Eindhoven who beat Rosenborg.
The match will also raise questions about Lehmann’s place in the starting line-up for Sunday’s big Premiership clash at Manchester United.
”They made life very difficult for us and we found it hard to find our pace,” added Wenger. ”But overall it’s not a shame to win only a point away from home. We have to be satisfied with the point.”
Arsenal, without skipper Patrick Vieira who was suffering from an ankle injury, were skippered by Henry as the Gunners hoped to bury the memory of their last visit to Athens two years ago, when they went down to a stormy 1-0 defeat.
Arsenal were looking slick in attack and went in front in the 18th minute.
Jose Antonio Reyes threaded a sweet left-foot pass through a wall of defenders where Ljungberg was on hand to chip over onrushing goalkeeper Konstantinos Chalkias.
It was the Swede’s second goal in the competition this season, following his strike in the 1-1 draw at Rosenborg.
The Gunners then played the more smooth football of the two sides but it was the Greeks who could count themselves unlucky to be still behind at the break with Argentinian midfielder Ezequiel Gonzalez heading Dumitru Mitu’s cross wide.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos also missed the target while Angelos Basinas had two more shots that went wide of the mark.
The Greeks continued to push after the break and some uncertain communication between Lehmann and Ashley Cole almost let in Mitu.
Lehmann, who has endured a nightmare Champions League with Arsenal in away matches, was at fault for the equaliser in the 65th minute.
The German came rushing out of his penalty area to head a long, hopeful ball clear that fell to Gonzalez, who scored with a sensational lob from an acute angle from just inside the touchline with Lehmann desperately back-pedalling.
It was the third European match in which Lehmann had blundered.
Last season, he tried to dribble the ball out of his area against Dynamo Kiev, lost possession and handed the Ukrainians a 2-1 win.
Just weeks earlier, the big German blamed himself for two of the goals in a 3-0 defeat by Inter Milan.
Fortunately for Lehmann, Henry came to the rescue nine minutes later.
A Panathinaikos attack broke down, which allowed Robert Pires to free Ashley Cole down the left.
His pinpoint cross was tucked into the corner by Henry, who celebrated his goal in stony silence aware of the criticism he drew in Athens two years ago when he was involved in a long-running verbal feud with the Greeks.
But Lehmann will also have the fingers pointed at him for the second goal when Olisadebe rose unopposed to head in a corner with the German marooned in no-man’s-land.
In a dramatic finale, Chalkias pulled off a miraculous double save to deny Reyes and then Pires from just six yards. — Sapa-AFP