Champions League - Spartak Moscow 4 Arsenal 1

Spartak Moscow came from behind to hammer Arsenal in the freezing Russian capital.

The London club took the lead after only 80 seconds but two goals from Marcao and a great shot from Yegor Titov saw Spartak able to celebrate a winning start to the second stage of the Champions League and their recent championship win in Russia.

The game turned in the 49th minute when Marcao grabbed his second of the game.

The Arsenal defence went missing and Robson headed a cross into the path of his strike partner when a shot looked on.

Marcao made no mistake and buried the finish to make Arsenal regret an unlucky miss in the first few seconds of the half.

Robert Pires had sent in a 46th minute header which goalkeeper Filimonov had palmed to Ukrainian defender Dmitri Parfyonov and onto the post.

Spartak took the warning and seized control of the match.

Marcao was intent on a hat trick as the game wore on and forced a great save from Alex Manninger. He reached a hopeful ball forward and headed it after waiting for the ball to bounce. He reached his own header and fired in a dipping volley which the Austrian tipped away from goal.

Play maker Titov was seeing more and more of the ball as the half progressed and he scored the third goal with a hard drive on the run. That was in the 76th minute and Arsenal was losing badly by now. Robson was put clear and rounded Manninger for an easy finish and Spartak's fourth goal four minutes later.

Arsenal had the perfect start when Silvinho was put in on goal.

Thierry Henry played the pass through to the Brazilian and he ran into the penalty area and clipped in a left foot finish past Alexander Filimonov.

The visitors were well on top at the start of the game and Kanu was in front of goal to reach a cross which he screwed just wide in the 6th minute.

Spartak did not create any threats at all in the opening stages of the game but their neat and precise pass and move game gradually eased them back into contention and they mounted an excellent spell around the half hour mark which led to Marcao's goal.

In the 28th minute Silvinho failed to clear a header properly and the ball looped back across the penalty area where the Brazilian forward hit it first time to send the ball into the corner of the net past Alex Manninger with one bounce.

Arsenal then started to look unhappy. Temperatures of minus 10 and piles of snow heaped next to the pitch diverted their attention from the counter attacks which coach Arsene Wenger wanted and they were forced to concentrate on defending.

The Premiership side failed to clear a corner in the 38th minute Vasily Baranov turned and fired just over the cross bar when the ball reached him in front of goal.

Arsenal were still very capable of good attacking play. In the final seconds of the first half Frederic Ljungberg was the leader of an excellent counter after Nelson Vivas won a tackle and fed the ball to Robert Pires.

The Swede crossed for Kanu to be steer the ball at goal from close range under a challenge from Bulatov but the ball went just inches past the upright with Filimonov expecting a powerful finish and ending up helpless on his back in the net. Spartak responded when Robson reached a Titov cross and hit a knee-high shot wide of the post but it was the waste of a good chance.

Arsenal will now need to beat Bayern Munich at Highbury in December to revove their chances in this group but midfielder Ray Parlour will be suspended for that match after a booking in this bad loss fo the English side.