arsenal were drawn in group a, along with german club borussia dortmund, dutch champions psv eindhoven and french side auxerre. a deflected goal by bergkamp and a counterattack, finished off by ljungberg on his comeback from injury gave arsenal the perfect start in the group stages, at home to borussia dortmund. at the philips stadion, arsenal produced an impressive display against psv, winning 4–0. it was their first win in european football away from home in 19 months and the match set a new club record, as gilberto scored the fastest goal in the competition at 20.07 seconds.