- Arsenal: Ospina, Debuchy, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez, Giroud
- Subs: Cech, Chambers, Monreal, Flamini, Coquelin, Campbell, Walcott
- Scouting report: 5 Dinamo players for Arsenal to fear
That's a wrap
Thanks all for sticking with us and following our coverage of Arsenal’s Champions League horror show.
It really was a disaster for the Gunners, who stumbled to only their second opening day defeats in the Champions League for 12 years.
Dinamo secured their first UCL win since they beat Strum Graz in September 1999.
Olivier Giroud was sent off and now the Gunners will be ruing their lack of attacking reinforcements come the visit of Olympiakos later this month.
We’ll once again be covering that game in full, so be sure to come back.
Until then...
Report: Giroud sees red as Gunners stumble on opening day
5 things: What did we learn from Arsenal’s loss?
Mourinho digs at Arsenal
Jose Mourinho has taken a subtle swipe at Arsenal ahead of the clash with Chelsea on Saturday.
Chelsea were tonight victorious over Maccabi Tel-Aviv, running out convincing 4-0 victors.
Wenger says...
“We were unlucky today. When we were 2-0 down we made it too difficult for ourselves with ten men.
“I think on the first yellow card he’s unlucky and on the second one it’s an accident. They got many times away with obvious fouls but we have to take it on the chin.
“When we don’t win I have to look at myself. Deeply I don’t believe the loss is down to the fact we changed players but we haven’t won so...
“We have enough games to come back. We’re focused to win our next home game and I’m sure we can beat Zagreb at home.”
Hope for Arsenal?
UEFA could introduce a third European club competition, which will run alongside the Champions League and Europa League.
Representatives of the 54 UEFA member states met in Malta on Wednesday and discussed the possibility of competitions for teams which fail to reach the group stages of the Champions League.
The potential competition could also benefit teams eliminated from the group stage of the Europa League.
Teams from countries that don’t ordinarily reach the group stages of major European competitions could also play a part in the tournament, which could benefit Scottish, Welsh an Irish football.
Read more on the potential competition right here.
Expensive loss
Arsenal will be counting the cost of their loss to Dinamo Zagreb if they struggle to reach the Champions League knockout stages.
Or maybe their lack of spending this summer, perhaps.
Arsene Wenger quotes to come...
Look away Olivier, the player ratings are in!
Arsenal endured a night to forget as Olivier Giroud’s first half red card left them with a Champions League mountain to climb in Croatia.
Already trailing 1-0, the striker was sent off after missing a host of early chances.
An unfortunate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal only compounded to the self-destruction before Theo Walcott provided brief hope with a late goal.
But which of Arsene Wenger’s team did themselves justice?
Neil McLeman runs the rule over United’s best and worst performers...
5 things we learned from Arsenal's loss
Arsenal got their 2015-16 Champions League campaign underway in the worst possible fashion, suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb.
Olivier Giroud was sent off on a miserable night in Croatia for Arsene Wenger’s men,as they fell to the fourth seed in Group F.
An Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal put Dinamo in front in the 24th minute, before Chile’s Junior Fernandes headed home from a corner to double the hosts lead.
Theo Walcott scored late on to offer hope, but on a dismal night in eastern Europe, Wenger’s side were very much second best.
Here’s five things Alex Richards learned in Zagreb
Ian Wright weighs in on Arsenal's transfer policy
Ferdinand pleas for Walcott to be used properly
Elsewhere in Europe
Bayern Munich kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win at Olympiakos to take charge of Group F.
Thomas Muller scored a stunner for the visitors, who are now big favourite to win the group after Arsenal’s defeat in Zagreb.
Fellow Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen top Group E after thrashing BATE at home. A brace from Hakan Calhanoglu plus goals from Javier Hernandez and Admir Mehmedi handed them a comfortable victory at the BayArena.
Their next group game is away to Barcelona, who drew 1-1 with Roma at the Olimpico.
Dynamo Kiev drew 2-2 with Porto to hand Chelsea command of Group G, while in Group H, Zenit won a topsy-turvy game 3-2 at Valencia to become the early pacesetters.
A double from Hulk sent the hosts in to boos from their fans, but a second-half comeback had them level with fifteen minutes to go. Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel hadn’t read the script though, and powered home the winner for the Russian.
Lyon had led in Gent, but an equaliser from Danijel Milicevic was enough to secure the hosts a point.
Chelsea defeated Maccabi Tel-Aviv 4-0.
Dinamo delirium
The Croatian side have been waiting a long, long time for that win.
They might have won 10 consecutive Croatian championships, but they have spent three years out of the Champions League.
Not only that, they have not won in the competition since I was riding round street corners on my BMX wearing a full Ellesse tracksuit, while occasionally stopping for a dip into my Dib-Dab.
Same old, same old...
Disappointing start for the Gunners
Arsenal’s defeat to Zagreb is only their second loss on the opening day of the Champions League group stages for 12 years.
Arsene Wenger is used to getting off to better starts than this.
Credit to Wenger, however, who changed the game with subs in the second half to get the Gunners back into it, but they were the masters of their own downfall from the start.
PEEEEP! FT Dinamo 2-1 Arsenal
That’s that - Arsenal have LOST in Zagreb!
Dinamo had the chance to make it three right at the death, but they did not need it.
Arsenal gave themselves a mountain to climb with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s own goal, followed by Olivier Giroud’s second caution.
Junior Fernandes headed home at the start of the second half, while Theo Walcott reduced the deficit.
But the Gunners once again did not have enough in Europe.
Zagreb player in injury shocker
Of course he is staying down far longer than required!
One more minute and Arsenal look to have very little...
Comes to nothing
The referee sees a foul in the middle and Zagreb get the chance to shy off a few more seconds.
Five added minutes, by the way. Three and a half left to play.
Into stoppage time...
Last chance saloon now for the Gunners and they have a free-kick on the left-hand side...
Dinamo's youngsters link up
As Arsenal push forward, they are leaving gaps at the back.
As a result, Dinamo’s young pairing of Marko Rog and Ante Coric almost found their way in at goal.
Rog fed his team-mate but Gabriel was over to make a stunning tackle to keep the Gunners in the game.
Three minutes remaining, but expect a few stoppage minutes.
Another Dinamo sub...
Interestingly, Dinamo have brought another young kid into the pressure situation.
Marko Rog is a wonderkid at 20-years-old, but is another very young kid in midfield.
Can Arsenal capitalise on their inexperience? Time will tell...
Premier League legend has his say
Grant Holt is a legend, isn’t he?
Well, he’s my hero and we’re giving him that.
He believes the Gunners have looked better with 10 men, although the substitutions from Wenger really have changed the game.
They are still pushing but haven’t had a clear chance since halving the deficit.
SNAPSHOT
Game on!
Theo Walcott, with a hint of offside, has created a grandstand final 10 minutes in Croatia.
Dinamo were playing a high line which is always dangerous against the likes of Walcott.
A ball over the top was met by the advancing Walcott, who slotted cool as a cucumber past the goalkeeper.
Arsene Wenger’s triple-sub paying dividends!
GOAL: Dinamo 2-1 Arsenal (Walcott)
Game on! Theo Walcott scores!
It’s 2-1!
David Ospina turns into Lionel Messi
Well, kind of.
The Gunners goalkeeper rushed out of his net to deal with a low cross, dribbled round one man and then took out youngster Ante Coric as he took the ball around him too.
He didn’t hoof the ball clear then either, he had the composure to take the ball wide and pick out a perfect low pass.
David Ospina > Olivier Giroud.
Watch INCREDIBLE Roma goal from 56 metres
Roma starlet Alessandro Florenzi embarrassed Barcelona with a stunning lob from near halfway.
The 24-year-old Italy midfielder had the ball on the right touchline at least 50 yards from goal and seemingly going nowhere, with Roma trailing 1-0 thanks to a Luis Suarez header.
But the homegrown star took aim and sailed the perfect effort over Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Barca’s German goalkeeper.
Ter Stegen was well off his line, but even as he saw the ball taking flight he made no great steps to recover.
Read more about that goal and watch the video right here
The game is petering out...
Very little in the way of ‘action’ since the Gunners made all three changes.
Joel Campbell tried to feed in Theo Walcott, but the offside went up. Twice.
Meanwhile, Junior Fernandes, the scorer of Dinamo’s second goal, has just been replaced by wonderkid Ante Coric - an 18-year-old who is better now than Luca Modric was at that age, apparently.
Remember the name, and the face:
Arsenal's night in facial expressions
...featuring Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain:
Sanchez looks lacking in confidence
We really have not seen the Alexis Sanchez that we did last season.
He has just fired a free-kick in a good position way over the bar, as he continues to struggle on the pitch for the Gunners.
Wenger makes TRIPLE sub
The fourth official’s nightmare has come true. Arsenal are making all three substitutions in one go as they really try to roll the dice.
Arsene Wenger has take off Mikel Arteta, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
On comes Joel Campbell for a rare sighting, along with Theo Walcott an Francis Coquelin.
Now or never. 25 mins to go.
What's next?
This really is vintage Arsenal in the Champions League, it seems.
What next?