Arsenal 2-1 Steaua: Arsenal vs Barcelona in February, anyone?
Add comment December 14th, 2007
Victory for a youthful Arsenal side on Wednesday night was not enough, as Sevilla’s 3-0 victory in Prague kept them top of the group. That means that in the next round we’ll face one of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid, or should the God’s of Fortune fall very suddenly in love with us, Porto.
And yet, despite the obvious hazards in going to head-to-head with one of Europe’s greats, I can’t help but feel genuinely excited about the prospect. To win the Champions League we’ll have to beat these sides at some stage. Two years ago early victories over Real Madrid and Juventus propelled us towards the final. A similar victory this term could have an equally galvanizing effect.
“That promises us a very interesting last sixteen game. I think it’s a good opportunity for us to show… you know, two years ago we played Juventus, we won. Last season we played Eindhoven, we lost. It’s a cup game. I’m highly confident we can beat everybody. Because I have great belief in my players, in my team and in our ability to become stronger from month to month. The next [Champions League] time is in February and in February we’ll even be stronger than now.”
To be frank, I’d rather be involved in the glamour tie of the round then facing off against the likes of Schalke. Imagine Thierry Henry’s Barcelona side facing off against Cesc Fabregas’ Arsenal. The mouth waters. That’s what European football ought to be about.
The game itself seems a little while ago now (some rather irritating personal circumstances prevented me posting yesterday), but it was again a case of a decent first-half proceeding a rather poor second. Theo Walcott was very impressive on the right-wing, and if he had more end product to add his dazzling runs the scoreline could have been much more comfortable. Nicklas Bendtner again underlined his potential with a very neat finish proving the icing on the cake of an accomplished display.
The big bonus was the return from injury of Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby. Both players looked highly-motivated and fairly sharp when you consider the length of their respective absences. Diaby in particular had a focus and energy about his game that had been strangely lacking in recent performances.
RVP is now set to start on Sunday against Chelsea, but we still wait for more news of Cesc Fabregas, Aleksandr Hleb, and Mathieu Flamini. From what I hear, Flamini is the most likely to be fit and it certainly looks like it will come too soon for Cesc. Still, cross every digit you have and pray.
In other news, we’ve been linked with Bulgarian youngster Nikolay Dimitrov. He’s a left-winger who currently plays for Levski Sofia. If he’s anything like as capable in the position as compatriot Martin Petrov, he’d be a decent buy.
Tomorrow we should have a much better idea of team news for Sunday’s massive game. I’m off to sacrifice my cat to the God of football injuries.
