henry scored his first hat-trick in europe for arsenal against roma on 27 november 2002 with the player stating; "it's wonderful to score a hat-trick but it's even more important that i did so in a game we've won." the result was followed with four consecutive draws – three at home against roma, valencia and ajax. arsenal only needed a draw to progress into the knockout stages, but lost 2–1 to valencia at the mestalla on 19 march 2003. reflecting later on the champions league campaign, wenger commented that "we lost our qualification at home".