Arsenal won the pre-season Emirates Cup for a second straight year on Sunday, beating Celtic 3-2 with goals from Carlos Vela, Bacary Sagna and Samir Nasri.
Vela scored in the third minute when Theo Walcott passed the ball into the box and the Mexico international slid in to tap past Celtic goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska.
Sagna scored with less than a minute to go before halftime with a left-foot volley after a casual pass from Tomas Rosicky found him on the edge of the area.
Nasri scored in the 51st from close range after Walcott set him up inside the area.
“I’m pleased with the two days” of the tournament, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We had good opponents, teams that didn’t give up.”
Wenger praised the team’s two new players, striker Marouane Chamakh and center back Laurent Koscielny. He also said he’s searching for one or two more players — at least one of them a center back with William Gallas, Sol Campbell, Mikael Silvestre and Philippe Senderos having left the club.
Celtic, quiet for most of the match, staged a late rally by pulling a goal back in the 73rd when Daryl Murphy slotted the ball past Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia. Ki Sung-yueng put Celtic within a goal of Arsenal in the 82nd, scoring from close range off a low cross from the right.
Celtic was also awarded a penalty in the 68th after Jack Wilshere pulled down Marc-Antoine Fortune, but Georgios Samaras fired the ball well wide of goal.
The Scottish team’s only other clear chance before that came from a free kick a few minutes after the first goal, but Almunia dived to his right to catch the ball.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon was pleased at his team’s late comeback, but expressed disappointment with his players’ efforts in defending set pieces.