CSKA Moscow 1 Arsenal 0: Henry fury as referee blunders over 'goal'

Henry (left) battles with the Russian defence in Moscow

Another French general retreated, defeated, from Moscow last night but this one did so cursing the referee and the terrain rather than the Russian winter. With Arsenal trailing to a 24th-minute goal from Brazilian Daniel Carvalho they thought they had levelled four minutes from time when Thierry Henry turned in a long ball from Kolo Touré which had been flicked on by Emmanuel Adebayor. The Spanish referee, Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez, thought otherwise. He disallowed the "goal" for handball and booked Henry, to boot.

"It is a very bad decision. We have to suffer from that decision," Wenger said. "We have to accept at times referees give goals because they didn't see things; tonight we have a new thing, they cancelled a goal because they saw things which didn't exist. It is a new problem they have raised."

Wenger, who was also unhappy with the decision to give the free-kick which led to Carvalho's goal, added: "All the big decisions in the game have gone for them and against us."

Henry was equally furious. "I'm more than angry," he said. "If you look at the replay, you will see it was not handball. I was shocked that the referee gave me a yellow. It was a good goal. Do you not think that if the 'keeper had seen the handball he would have reacted and appealed? I will not hide behind the fact we did not play well, but this could have been a good result."

Wenger also criticised the quality of the surface, adding: "The pitch was an October pitch in Russia. Uefa have to look into it, it is not acceptable to play on pitches like that in the Champions' League."

Arsenal now lie second in Group G, a point adrift of their conquerors, the one-time Russian Army side, and ahead of Hamburg and Porto.

Henry may have been steaming at the match's conclusion but it was cold enough at the start for all 11 Arsenal players, and nine of CSKA's, to be wearing gloves. Of more significance was the visitors' reversion to the 4-5-1 formation which was such a success in the march to last season's final. This entailed Robin van Persie operating on the left flank, with Henry the lone striker.

The initial exchanges were open enough but clear chances proved elusive until Touré was harshly penalised on the edge of the Arsenal area. It was tapped square and driven powerfully past Jens Lehmann by Carvalho as the Arsenal wall broke towards him.

CSKA were briefly dominant and Lehmann had to turn Carvalho's dipping volley over the bar before gathering a free header from Dudu. He was beaten, by Vagner Love, but the same linesman who saw Henry's "handball" correctly indicated that the Brazilian had strayed narrowly offside. By then Henry should have levelled but he totally fluffed a free header from Tomas Rosicky's cross. Van Persie twice broke but the counter-attacks petered out, then neither Johan Djourou nor Gilberto Silva could get the necessary touch on Rosicky's tempting cross.

Arsenal continued to control the ball after the interval, but not the game. While they struggled to penetrate CSKA's layered defence only expert tackles by Touré and William Gallas prevented Arsenal being hit on the break.

Shortly after the hour Adebayor was introduced to add a physical presence to the attack as Arsenal went to 4-4-2. Theo Walcott was also added to the mix but, with Henry's "goal" disallowed, it was an unlikely source who almost forced the equaliser, a wayward cross from Justin Hoyte hitting Akinfeev's post 12 minutes from time. "I'm still confident we will qualify," insisted Wenger as he left.

CSKA Moscow (3-5-2): Akinfeev; V Berezutsky, Ignashevich, A Berezutsky; Semberas, Aldonin (Krasic, 90), Rahimic, Dudu, Zhirkov; Love (Olic, 85), Carvalho (Taranov, 89). Substitutes not used: Mandrykin (gk), Kochubei, Salugin, Grigoryev.

Arsenal (4-1-4-1): Lehmann; Hoyte, Touré, Djourou (Clichy, 75), Gallas; Gilberto; Hleb, Rosicky (Walcott, 80), Fabregas, Van Persie (Adebayor, 68); Henry. Substitutes not used: Almunia (gk), Denilson, Song, Aliadière.

Referee: M E Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).