The Crow - Beating Milan is one thing... but Barcelona!!!!
Published: 17 February, 2011
ARSENAL
WHAT a moment. Andrey Arshavin, maligned all season for his poor form, stroking the ball, hardly looking where it was going, into the back of the Barcelona goal.
He was so sure where he was planting it. One nil down. Two one up. That doesn’t happen every day.
If the devil at the crossroads said to me: The deal is you have to endure Arsenal bungling a four goal lead against Newcastle and losing at home to West Brom, but but but but, listen, you get to beat Barcelona as well, I’d sell my soul to the Gunners every time. Sign me up.
Let’s just take a moment to reflect. This wasn’t Arsenal beating one of Europe’s fading giants, this was beating a galactico power. This was Arsenal beating the finest team in the world, a team that you can only watch in awe of. A team British teams often stumble up against.
In the second leg, Lionel Messi might score four goals again and Arsenal might leave the Champions League. It doesn’t really matter now. The history books will always show: Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1, February 16, 2010.
Only a 20-0 defeat would tarnish this historic performance.
How many teams stand up to passing brilliance of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Villa like this? Not many. The quadruple may be an impossible dream. Arsenal might not win anything again this year. But we’ll always have the night we socked it to the world’s finest. Unforgettable.
RICHARD OSLEY
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GRAEME Souness described AC Milan defender Gennaro Gattuso as “a little dog”, while Spurs fans behind him sang loud and long into a rain-filled Italian night.
The San Siro was the venue for this coming-of-age Champions League clash with a magnificent 1-0 win against one of the regulars of the tournament. Even the most ardent, nonsensical, hate-filled Arsenal supporter must realise what a great performance this was. The beauty of knowing so many rival supporters is that wherever they are in the world, they’ll have an image of me jumping up and down screaming like a banshee at the sight of my beloved team taking the Italians apart. It was calm, calculated and cynical and all, may I say, with the team missing its main core of players.
I’m not going to write many words on the disgust I feel for the behaviour of “the dog” or the horror tackle from Mathieu Flamini on Vedran Corluka, all we can do is hope the proper punishment is dealt out for those atrocities. I am however, going to praise Heurelho Gomes just as readily as I slaughtered him for his performance last week – for when Milan did manage to penetrate our back four he made two brilliant saves that kept us in the tie.
I’m not alone when I say I await the Arsenal -v- Barcelona clash with a renewed vigour in knowing that our south London neighbours might go out of this competition before we do.
TONY DALLAS