Score: Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas scores against Braga during their Champions League group H match at the Emirates Stadium, London, Wednesday. AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth
Arsenal cruised to a 6-0 win over Portuguese team Braga in their opening Group H match in the Champions League on Wednesday, with captain Cesc Fabregas and Carlos Vela each scoring two goals.
Braga, which impressed in qualifying by beating Celtic and Sevilla to reach the group stage, was overrun at Emirates Stadium.
"It was good training because in the Premier League and the Champions League we will have games where we will not have it easy," Fabregas said.
Arsenal was awarded a penalty early on when Marouane Chamakh was brught down in the box by goalkeeper Luiz Felipe. Fabregas converted from the spot in the ninth minute, beating Felipe to his left.
Braga's back line was sturdy up until the 30th, when Fabregas dribbled past two defenders and sent Andrei Arshavin through into the box. The Russia international beat the 'keeper at the near post with a fierce right-footed volley.
Arsenal's third goal came four minutes later. Wilshere collected a pass in the area with two defenders around him and back-heeled the ball to Chamakh, who shot through the legs of a sliding defender and put the ball in the bottom corner of the net.
Fabregas scored with a rare header from close range from Arshavin's cross in the 53rd. Fabregas missed a chance for a hat trick four minutes later when his chip was cleared off the line by Braga defender Moises.
Vela, a second-half substitute, scored Arsenal's fifth in the 69th after Arshavin dribbled into the box and sliced a pass between two defenders. Vela latched onto the ball and chipped it into the net.
Vela scored again in the 84th off a pass from Fabregas with a left-foot volley.
It was Braga's debut match in the Champions League group stage after finishing as runner-up in last season's Portuguese league. Braga, known as the "Arsenalistas," adopted the London club's team colors in 1921.
"We made so many mistakes," Braga coach Domingos Paciencia said through a translator. "It's very hard to play the game as badly as we have done tonight ... even finishing the game at halftime would have been a bad experience."
