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Gunners pull off smooth Italian job

Arsenal forward Thierry Henry of France celebrates at the end of their Champions League second-leg quarter-final match at Delle Alpi stadium in Turin, Italy, on Wednesday. Arsenal qualified for the Champions League semi-finals after a 0-0 draw with Juventus, giving the English side a 2-0 aggregate win. PHOTO: AFP

Arsenal progressed serenely into the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history on Wednesday with a thoroughly professional performance against Italian giants Juventus.

The Gunners drew 0-0 -- winning 2-0 on aggregate -- against a less than inspired Juventus outfit, whose appalling disciplinary record in the quarter-final saw a third player sent-off in Pavel Nedved.

Arsenal's patched together defense -- missing England regulars Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell, although the latter was available for selection on Wednesday -- also racked up a record eighth straight clean sheet in the competition.

They can go into a semi-final against surprise packages Villarreal with confidence, though will be mindful that the Spaniards have already seen off three British sides in Everton, Manchester United and Rangers.

In the other quarter-final match on Wednesday, Barcelona set up a mouthwatering clash with AC Milan -- who thrashed them 4-0 in the 1994 final -- after beating plucky Portuguese side Benfica 2-0, also 2-0 on aggregate.

John Hartson celebrates after opening the scoring for Celtic during the Scottish Premier League match between Celtic Glasgow and Hearts at Celtic Park, Glasgow, on Wednesday. Celtic won the league title after defeating Hearts 1-0. PHOTO: EPA

Ronaldinho overcame having an early penalty saved to open the scoring in the 19th minute with a beautifully worked goal but the Catalan giants had to wait until a minute from time to ensure the last four spot as Samuel Eto'o scored.

While Arsenal rightly celebrated their best ever showing in the competition -- two quarter-final places being their previous best -- it was not enough for their inspirational French striker Thierry Henry.

"I am really proud but it's not the sort of history I want to make," the Frenchman said.

"I'm a winner and while its a good day for the club, let's go on further. What counts is who is the best on the day, not what league is the best, as the Italians keep telling us they have -- we were the best today," he said.

"Also we carried on defending as a team even when we were 11 against 10 [Pavel Nedved was sent off with 12 minutes remaining]. Of course a lot is centered around concentration and we were focused except for once, but Jens Lehmann was there to save," Henry said.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that his team had once again defied those who had written their chances off -- mainly because of a serious dip in their Premiership form earlier in the season.

"Nobody expected that from our players," Wenger purred.

"Overall I feel we have become better and better. We were in control. We still managed to play in a controlled way. You saw another side of this team tonight," he said.

He was particularly proud of the defense.

"It's very surprising. I never expected that. They have a good combination with Gilberto Silva in front of them and Jens Lehmann behind them," he said.

Juventus manager Fabio Capello had no doubts that Arsenal had what it took to go all the way.

"If Arsenal can stay in this kind of physical shape, they will definitely be very hard to beat," said Capello, who masterminded several European Cup victories with AC Milan in the early 1990s.

Celtic won its fourth Scottish League title in six seasons and 40th overall with a 1-0 victory over Hearts on Wednesday.

John Hartson, playing on his 31st birthday, scored the only goal of the game in the fourth minute in front of 60,000 fans at Celtic Park. A long clearance by goalkeeper Artur Boruc was headed on by Maciej Zurawski to Hartson, who scored with a right-footed shot.

The win helped Celtic move 20 points ahead of Hearts with six games to go.

With the title virtually certain to go to Celtic, Hearts manager Valdas Ivanauskas, who took over after Graham Rix was fired two weeks ago, made five changes from the lineup that beat Edinburgh neighbor Hibernian 4-0 on Sunday to reach the Scottish Cup final.

Although second place for Hearts would mean a place in the Champions League, Rangers, who have 51 league titles and won the championship last season, are only three points behind.

Also on Wednesday, Hibernian came from behind to beat Kilmarnock 2-1 at Easter Road to regain fourth place.
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