UEFA Champions League: Arsenal Mugged

Arsenal have had their European dream unbelievably stolen by a referee.

What I witnessed tonight was an absolute disgrace, Arsenal worked their backsides off to score two goals at Anfield, only for an over zealous referee to award a penalty to Liverpool in extraordinary circumstances.

The game started well for Arsenal as they took an early lead, with Abou Diaby shocking the Anfield faithful. Their lead didn't last too long with Sami Hyppia scoring a bullet back post header to send the teams in level at the break.

The game then looked to have been settled by a moment of brilliance from Fernando Torres as he turned Senderos in front of the Kop, to rifle the ball into the top corner for Liverpool.

The reds then set out their stall to hold onto their lead and appeared to be doing it quite comfortably.

However, they hadn't bet on Theo Walcott.

With 10 minutes left, the Arsenal substitute picked up the loose ball outside his own box and proceeded to run the length of the park, leaving every Liverpool player in his wake. The talented youngster then squared the ball for Emmanuel Adebayor to slot home the equalizer!

Arsenal were going through!

What happened next makes a mockery out of football. Ryan Babel dashed inside Kolo Toure, who made a motion towards the young Dutchman.

The contact was clearly outside the box. On further inspection it was probably not even a free kick! 

The referee however, pointed straight to the spot!

I feel sick as a neutral fan, Arsenal were mugged!

There was less contact than Dirk Kuyt on Alexander Hleb in last weeks first leg at the Emirates!

Steven Gerrard stepped up and fired Liverpool into the semi finals.

Arsenal threw everything forward after that and were caught again on the break as Ryan Babel rounded off the scoring.

Liverpool advance 5-3 on aggregate and Arsene Wenger will be in one foul mood for a long time to come!

It looked like Arsenal had pulled it off at Anfield, but the history books will tell you, it was Liverpool's night and their night it is!