Arsenal Juniors lose with honour to Olympiakos

Olympiakos 1 Arsenal 0. "From Barnet to Athens is a big jump," said Arsene Wenger after Arsenal's defeat last night, in one of the season's more memorable quotes.

Barnet in north London, famous for its battle, its fair and for being the birthplace of Baby Spice, might not have the allure of Athens as a tourist destination but its football team (currently 13th in Division Two) often play pre-season looseners against Arsenal, and many of the Gunners' side who lined up against Olympiakos last night were more used to the atmosphere of Underhill [capacity: 5,568] than that of a febrile Karaiskakis Stadium [capacity: 34,000].

Yet despite Wenger fielding a side whose average age was 21 years and 215 days, the youngest ever in a Champions League fixture, his youngsters put in an impressive performance in losing 1-0 to Olympiakos.

The result had no bearing on the outcome of group H with Arsenal finishing first on 13 points, three more than their Greek rivals, who join now them in Friday week's draw for the knockout phase.

The game was decided by Geraldo Leonardo's second-half goal after a first period in which Arsenal should have taken the lead when Theo Walcott, fit again after a hamstring injury, found himself in space inside the area but blasted his shot straight at the Olympiakos keeper.

Nonetheless, Wenger finished the match with that rarest of things – a smile – and later praised his side. "Nobody was disappointing, and it is difficult to single out individual performances, although [Aaron] Ramsey had a good presence, gave good balls and produced a good work rate. They all looked like they played every week in this competition."

If Ramsey, deputising for Cesc Fabregas in midfield, caught the eye, then so did 18-year-old debutant Tom Cruise, whose name has been an early Christmas present for tabloid headline writers. The left-back put in an assured display – that's right, a 'Top Gun' performance – and his fellow new boy at the back, 18-year-old Kyle Bartley, also showed glimpses of potential.

Slightly more established players like Fran Merida (above) also showed their potential.

"These youngsters play exactly like the first team, and they represented Arsenal well tonight," said Wenger, though for most of the starting XI it's now back to the reserves, and Barnet. ·