Arsene Wenger may have called on Arsenal to display spirit and adventure tonight - but even he cannot have expected the stirring comeback produced by his side in the Champions League quarter-finals at Highbury.

Trailing 1-0 to Valencia, last season's runners-up and a side who had conceded just six goals in their 12 group games, the Gunners looked dead and buried as they struggled to acclimatise to uncharted European territory.

However, if anything has typified Arsenal over the past decade, it is a refusal to give up and a steadfast resolve to drain every last drop of energy in battling against the odds.

As fightbacks go, this was not quite as thrilling as Manchester United's to win the competition two years ago - and the job is probably at best only half done given Valencia's strength at home.

But maybe this was the night that Arsenal finally came of age in the Champions League and the game will live long in the memory of all those at Highbury as Thierry Henry sparked them into life after 67 minutes.

And appropriately, given that Wenger had asked for those supposedly British battling qualities, it was England international Ray Parlour who produced a wonderful 25-yard drive to complete the unlikely victory.

It was a goal to savour and ended a three-minute spell that captivated the senses as the misfiring Gunners suddenly clicked again.

What looked like defeat had become victory, with Patrick Vieira once again a colossus in central midfield and an English back five providing the backbone.

However, amid the celebrations, it should be remembered that it could have been 3-1 and the hardest test is yet to come against a side who have an unbeaten home record in the Champions League.

The tie is evenly poised but even those odds were beyond Arsenal's wildest dreams in a first half in which they were given a lesson in the art of European football - even if they proved to be quick learners.

Henry flashed an early shot across the face of goal, but when their one real first-half chance to score came, it was wasted.

Vieira was the guilty party after he rose purposefully at the far post to meet a corner by Robert Pires but somehow managed to strike the crossbar from just two yards out.

It seemed easier to score and Vieira knew just how important the miss was. For Valencia grew in stature from that moment on.

Roberto Ayala gave the first warning of what was to come when he flashed a header across the face of goal from a corner. Kanu deflected the ball just over with an outstretched leg.

Although the influence of Gaizka Mendieta was being restricted, the effervescent talents of Pablo Cesar Aimar, Juan Sanchez and Kily Gonzalez were simply a class above their Arsenal midfield counterparts.

Kily Gonzalez surged down the left flank on the overlap and his cross deflected off Lee Dixon and wrong-footed keeper David Seaman, with the ball bouncing just wide of the far post and slammed into the side-netting by Sanchez.

Arsenal certainly never lacked determination, instead the problem was that they simply lacked enough bodies in the penalty area as Kanu dropped deep and midfield reinforcements never materialised.

Seaman was fighting a rearguard action as he clutched a fierce half-volley by Mendieta and then produced a saving tackle on John Carew after the centre-forward had escaped the offside trap.

Carew struck the outside of the post with his follow-up but Arsenal's luck could not last and when Mendieta's cross came back towards Ayala off a combination of Dixon and Sanchez, he blasted his volley past Seaman.

Wenger's response was typically adventurous, bringing on Sylvain Wiltord for Ljungberg at the interval, and his team duly responded in kind.

Despite the increasing influence of Vieira, there was still little hint of what was to come when Pires tried to beat the keeper at the near post and then saw a free-kick fly just wide.

Valencia were left mystified by a yellow card shown to Ayala which will rule him out of the second leg, for it was a case of mistaken identity as the foul had actually been committed by Jocelyn Angloma.

However, fortune smiled on Arsenal when they drew level, with Henry turning smartly onto Pires' clever back-flick inside the penalty area and burying his shot on 57 minutes.

It looked offside but replays clearly showed that Angloma had been lazily trundling back from the byline and had played his fellow Frenchman on.

If that brought Highbury alive, there was little that could have prepared the Arsenal fans for what happened next.

Parlour, who scored a hat-trick against Werder Bremen in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup last season, had only one thought in his mind as he advanced towards the Valencia goal and let fly with a stunning drive.

The ball flew into the roof of the net and Arsenal were ahead.

It could, indeed should, have been more.

Henry broke clear onto Vieira's through-ball but then tripped over as he went round keeper Santiago Canizares with 25 minutes left.

Canizares also denied the French striker from a tight angle, but Valencia steadied themselves and came again.

Play flowed from end to end as both sides probed but there were no further breakthroughs.

Arsenal were deservedly cheered off the pitch at the end and the chances of a semi-final against Leeds are still alive.

But more of the same is required in Valencia if the Gunners are to complete that step into the unknown.

Teams:

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Keown, Adams, Cole, Ljungberg (Wiltord 46), Vieira, Parlour, Pires, Henry,Kanu (Lauren 84).

Subs Not Used: Manninger, Silvinho, Edu, Luzhny, Vivas.

Booked: Pires.

Goals: Henry 58, Parlour 60.

Valencia: Canizares, Angloma, Pellegrino, Ayala, Carboni, Kily Gonzalez, Mendieta (Vicente 89), Aimar (Angulo 68),Baraja, Carew, Sanchez.

Subs Not Used: Palop, Djukic, Zahovic, Aurelio, Milla.

Booked: Baraja, Ayala, Kily Gonzalez, Pellegrino.

Goals: Ayala 41.

Att: 35,104

Ref: Dick Jol (Holland).