Thierry Henry scored a memorable hat-trick in the Stadio Olimpico last night to hand Arsenal a precious victory in their opening Group B fixture against Roma, the Premier League champions coming away from the Italian capital with a well deserved 3-1 win.

Meanwhile, Sir Bobby Robson could only watch in horror as his Newcastle United side were outclassed by Internazionale, losing 4-1 at St James' Park in Group A.

Arsenal themselves made the worst possible start to their second phase of the Champions League, going behind after just four minutes of play when 20-year-old forward Antonio Cassano played a neat one-two with his captain, Francesco Totti, before turning Sol Campbell and shooting in off the inside of the left-hand post.

Like Manchester United the evening before, Arsène Wenger's side were behind before they could even blink. Their response though was fast and deadly and within two minutes, Henry had equalised for the visitors, taking advantage of a Christian Panucci slip before collecting Gilberto Silva's slide-rule pass in his stride and coolly passing the ball past a helpless Francesco Antonioli.

Both sides had chances to in at the break ahead, in particular Totti who was denied a goal by a magnificent goalline clearance from Pascal Cygan after Cafu had broken clear of the Arsenal defence.

And Roma were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal when Henry scored his fifth Champions League goal of the season in just his seventh match.

 
Roma coach Fabio Capello will be disappointed with the way that his team defended, especially Panucci and Cafu who failed to clear their lines, leaving Henry with the opportunity to drill in Arsenal's and his second of the night.

Two became three on 75 minutes and the French international left the best until last, leaving Antonioli rooted to his line as he curled in a sensational free-kick from the left-hand edge of the area.

In total, he has now scored 25 goals in this competition for Arsenal, Juventus and Monaco.

After the match, a delighted Wenger was quick to praise his hat-trick hero, saying: "Thierry was exceptional tonight. He scored three different goals, but three great goals. It is as good a result in Europe as I have had in my time at Arsenal."

 

In Group B's other fixture tonight at the Mestalla, there appeared to be a major shock on the cards when Swedish international striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored for Ajax with just a minute remaining to silence the Valencia faithful.

However, the home side and second favourites for the competition showed real character by equalising a minute later to leave the two sides all square at 1-1.

Newcastle began what looked like being a tricky second phase for them with a clash against Hector Cuper's Inter and like Arsenal and Manchester United, made a terrible start to the match, going behind after just two minutes to a Domencio Morfeo goal.

 

But if they thought that was bad enough, four minutes later their task became monumental when Wales striker Craig Bellamy was dismissed for striking out at center-back Marco Materazzi in an off-the-ball incident seen by the referee's assistant.

Behind early on and down to ten men, Newcastle put on a brave performance, but were caught out towards the end of the first half by two pieces of Italian opportunism on the break.

Firstly, with ten minutes to go until the half-time whistle, Argentinian midfielder Matthias Almeyda fired into the roof of the net from 25-yards after Hernán Crespo had volleyed against the Newcastle post following a corner.

And then in injury time at the end of the half, Aaron Hughes allowed Javier Zanetti to escape down the right-hand touchline and his inch-perfect cross was tapped in at the near post by Crespo for his ninth goal of the tournament, making him the Champions League top scorer.

 

Robson's side put everything into the second half, but all they had to show for their efforts was a Nolberto Solano goal after 72 minutes following good approach play by substitute Laurent Robert.

However, the difference in class between the two sides was demonstrated when Cuper brought on Alvaro Recoba for the final ten minutes and the Uruguay forward scored with his very first touch having been on the field for 27 seconds, curling a brilliant shot past a hapless Shay Given, the ninth time that the Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of the net during the last two games.

A dejected Bellamy afterwards accepted that he: "had let everyone down and was feeling very low", while his manager labelled his behaviour "unprofessional" before claiming that had Newcastle had a full compliment of players on the pitch, then "we may well have come back".

In Group A's other meeting, group favourites Barcelona travelled to the intimidating BayArena to take on last season's runners-up Bayer Leverkusen and found themselves one down at the break to a Dimitar Berbatov strike.

After half-time though the Catalans stepped up a gear and equalised three minutes into the second half through Argentinian international Javier Saviola and went on to claim all three points two minutes from time thanks to substitute Marc Overmars's winner.