Batistuta sends Arsenal packing

Arsenal fell through a familiar trapdoor at Wembley last night, going out of the Champions League at a stage similar to last season's departure and for much the same reasons. A goal from Gabriel Batistuta 15 minutes from the end took Fiorentina to the next group phase, leaving Arsene Wenger and his players to rue a host of missed chances with a place in the UEFA Cup as poor consolation.

That, however, was only part of the story, for while Arsenal dominated much of the game territorially their attack lacked quality where it was most needed. Despite Dennis Bergkamp's guile, and the Dutchman's recent hamstring injury was clearly weighing him down, Arsenal failed to produce the telling centres and final passes which would have made the evening much harder for Fiorentina's not invulnerable defence.

Wenger has to face the fact that in two failed Champions League campaigns his team have not added up to the sum of their multinational talents. Last night Emmanuel Petit, though not quite fully match fit, was alongside Patrick Vieira in midfield, yet the two Frenchmen were never the influence that they have been in domestic games.

So much depended on Marc Overmars using his speed and skill on the left flank, but even when he turned Fiorentina's defence few of his crosses carried a threat. Nwankwo Kanu's hat-trick had brought Arsenal an unlikely victory at Chelsea last Saturday, but last night his studious style rarely blew the opposition's cover.

That said, Arsenal still had numerous chances to win with something to spare. But just as they had dominated the goal-less match in Florence without finding a finishing touch (how much more now must Kanu regret missing that late penalty?), so last night a further series of opportunities were squandered.

Midway into the first half both Kanu and Bergkamp met an astute low cross from Ray Parlour with air shots. Then a mistake by Alessandro Pierini let Bergkamp lay the ball in to the advancing Kanu only for Francesco Toldo to flick it away from his feet. Kanu had an unhappy game, failing to exploit telling lobs that Bergkamp directed over the defence either side of half-time.

But the most blatant miss came on the hour after Tomas Repka's half-clearance, following Bergkamp's free-kick, had found Vieira near the left by-line. Vieira's centre reached an unmarked Martin Keown in front of goal, but he could only head the ball down weakly to Toldo.

Until then, apart from the glancing header from Enrico Chiesa which sailed across the Arsenal goal on the quarter-hour, Fiorentina had not made a scoring attempt of any note. As for Batistuta, he had spent most of the time complaining to the Slovakian referee about the close attentions of Keown.

Yet the longer the match progressed without a goal and the more Fiorentina protested and procrastinated, the greater the feeling grew that Arsenal would fall to a sucker punch.

It duly came within two minutes of Davor Suker replacing Dixon to add weight to Wenger's attack. Jorg Heinrich, Fiorentina's German left wing-back, suddenly ran at the middle of Arsenal's back four and, as the defenders hesitated, laid the ball out to his right where Batistuta was lurking. The Argentine accelerated past Nigel Winterburn's challenge and in the same instant drove the ball powerfully into the roof of the net from a narrow angle.

With three minutes remaining Suker's shot hit the near post and Toldo brilliantly denied Kanu a goal from the rebound.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon (Suker 73), Keown, Adams, Winterburn, Parlour (Ljungberg 56), Vieira, Petit (Vivas 59), Overmars, Bergkamp, Kanu. Subs not used: Manninger, Henry, Silvinho, Upson. Booked: Parlour, Petit, Adams.

Fiorentina: Toldo, Di Livio, Repka, Fircano, Pierlini, Rossitto, Heinrich, Rui Costa, Cois (Adani 46), Chiesa, Batistuta. Subs not used: Taglialatela, Amor, Mijatovic, Okon, Balbo, Bressan. Booked: Batistuta, Rossitto, Repka, Rui Costa.

Referee: M Lubos (Slovakia).