By Ameenu Shardow
Arsenal came from a goal down to beat Udinese 2-1 to qualify for the group stages of this year's Uefa Champions League.
In the process the Ghana duo of Kwadwo Asamoah and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu who played the full duration of the game, have had their European dream curtailed by the beleaguered Arsenal side.
A 39th minute goal from striker Antonio Di Natale which pulled the aggregate score even put the Zebras on course for a major European upset.
However this wasn't to be as the English side hit back with two goals from Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott in the 55th and 69th minute respectively.
There was however a missed penalty by Di Natale in between Arsenal's goals to give some sort of respite to under pressure manager Arsene Wenger.
Arsenal's win also represented joy for yet another Ghanaian Emmanuel Frimpong who played 46 minutes of the game.
Elsewhere, John Mensah's Olympique Lyon repelled a determined second-half push from Rubin Karzan to end the game 1-1.
The French side thus qualifies for the group stages for the 12th consecutive season after recording a 4-2 aggregate scoreline over the ambitious Russian club.
However the Ghana captain was not even part of Lyon's travelling party for the game - he is reported to be recovering from a minor injury picked up a few weeks ago.