March 9th
Can I first say that that was the best 0-0 draw I have ever seen? Then can I say Yeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaa! We just knocked out the 9 times European Cup winners and over the two legs nobody can say that we didn’t deserve it.
They probably started brighter and I’m not sure there was even 5 minutes gone when Ronaldo got a free header at the back post. Luckily he’s so fat the blubber has spread to his forehead and he cushioned the ball down to the near post where Jens put it out for a corner. A bit worrying but that was about as threatening as they got in the first half.
We seemed to make a good few chances in the first half. José skewed one wide, Cesc had one blocked out for a corner and then Thierry played in José again who hit the bar. It did seem that Thierry delayed his pass just a bit too long though. As the ball rebounded though it broke upfield and fell on the edge of the box to Zidane whose shot was bravely blocked by Kolo Toure, who along with Philippe Senderos at the back, was immense. Did anyone else spot Zidane try to stamp on Kolo’s foot afterwards though? Don’t fuck with the Kolo, ZZ, you slaphead.
Half-time and 0-0 and the ref was a cunt all the way through giving all kinds of free kicks to Real Madrid for very little but in Europe that’s not a surprise given their cash reserves and influence. The second half began and it turned into a real end to end kind of battle although Madrid didn’t really have too many chances. Beckham hit a free kick too hard and it looked like he may have been trying to catch Jens off his line but that was never the case.
Then our most dangerous moment of the game came when Raul hit the post and similar to the position Luis Garcia found himself in during the Liverpool game the other week he hit it back across goal but Jens got a touch and it was cleared. A truly awesome save from the best keeper in England this season. Up the other end Thierry forced a fingertip save from Casillas, he put another one just wide and close to the end from a Real corner Robert Pires was clear with the keeper up for the corner but his shot didn’t have enough and Roberto Carlos cleared on the line.
In the last minute of injury time we had another break on but Pires gave the ball away and you feared the worst, they had a shot but Jens made a smart save down low. Eventually the final whistle went and there was jumping and hugging and cheering and such relief after a scoreless draw I don’t think I’ve ever experienced. We reaped the benefits of the 1-0 in Madrid and every single player worked hard and thoroughly deserved to go through the next round.
On a night like last night it’s hard to single out any player as the man of the match. Jens was solid as always this season and he made a fantastic save as mentioned earlier, Eboue is a much better player after the ACN, Kolo and Phil is a top partnership in the middle in my opinion – ciao Sol!, Matty at left back was 100% effort and commitment in an unfamiliar position, José ran himself ragged, Cesc was good enough for me to let him marry my beautiful daughter one day, Gilberto mopped up and did as good a job as he did in Madrid, Freddie was all effort with some very nice touches, Thierry was dangerous and strong and deserved a goal but if I had to pick one player it would be Alexander Hleb. He’s come in for some criticism in the past and even last night we saw him give the ball away once or twice. Maybe his first half wasn’t so great but after the break he was fantastic. He worked so so hard, tracked back in his own position, more than once he went over left to cover José, he showed some great skill, kept the ball well, distributed it better, got in dangerous positions and he really did give everything. I hope this is a bit of a turning point for him because if he can keep up that kind of performance level and improve his final ball then we’ve got ourselves a player. That’s not to say he was far better than anyone else, as I said it’s hard single anyone out, but when a guy gets as much stick as he’s been getting and puts in a performance like that then he deserves the virtual pat on the back.
Afterwards the manager was full of praise for his young team, saying “Overall something is happening in the team they are gelling together and growing together, they are very, very young but they have shown character and that’s very good for our club. If you had told me before that tie we will play two games against Real Madrid, with a whole defence nearly out, and not concede a goal, that shows you how remarkable the spirit is in the team.”
Except now Eboue is a contender for a starting place when Lauren comes back and in Kolo and Philippe Senderos I think we have a central partnership that compliments each other perfectly and given enough time can grow together to become a permanent fixture in the team. With Cole or Clichy back then we’ve got ourselves a back four and that’s not taking anything away from Mathieu Flamini who has doen such a good job in recent weeks. Even though we might have Sol Campbell back soon you have to give the two we have in the middle the time to develop that they deserve.
The captain had his say as well -“I think it’s amazing once again we are going to go into the quarter finals for the second successive season but we have to keep focused. We have a big game against Liverpool on Sunday and we’ll see how we do.”
After Madrid two weeks ago we lost the next game to Blackburn and this is a weekend when we need to make points to fight for the fourth Champions League spot especially with Sp*rs away to Chelsea on Saturday. It’s a wonderful achievement to have beaten Madrid and we need to enjoy it as emotions have run high in different ways this season but we have to keep our feet on the ground and keep focussed.
As for Madrid themselves the new President said they were going to eat Arsenal and that history would judge the players. Now that we’re through we can safely say that Ronaldo looks like he’s eaten a life sized chocolate and cream figure of each one of our team and ultimately history will judge this Real Madrid as the best group of individuals ever assembled but who simply aren’t and never have been a team.
So we go into the draw for the next round along with AC Milan, Juventus, Lyon, Barcelona, Benfica, Vilarreal and the winners of next weeks’s game between Inter and Ajax. Plenty of quality in there, isn’t there? Barcelona would be nice though, wouldn’t it? You could all come and visit me and buy me beer. Lots and lots of delicious beer.
Anyway, well done to the lads, I love them. I love football. I love the Arsenal y Adios Merengues. Hasta luego!
