AC Milan 0-2 Arsenal

By: Dan | March 5th, 2008

What can you say about a game like this? It was simply sensational. Arsenal, the “kids”, outfought, outclassed, and simply outplayed the current champions over two legs. Arsenal went to the San Siro missing four first-team players (Eduardo, van Persie, Toure and Rosicky), and blew away AC Milan. Fabregas and Adebayor struck late, but there was never any doubt that we deserved the win. Well done Gunners.

The start of the game was shaky as AC Milan won corners and free kicks around the field, but once the team found its rhythm, Arsenal dictated the rest of the match. Thanks to our center midfield trio of Hleb, Flamini and Fabregas, Milan’s midfield was simply outclassed. Eboue did not have an exceptional game, but it hardly mattered. Fabregas and Flamini were both covering Kaka, and absolutely dominated his play. The fact that Kaka got yellow-carded in the closing minutes of the game for petulance shows how frustrated he was. Flamini also proved to play far better then his namesake Gattuso, and I think has finally moved past that nickname. Maybe Gattuso can be nicknamed after the Flamster.

Match Highlights:

The team was relentless in attack after that first thirty minutes. For the rest of the game, Arsenal stretched and prodded the AC Milan defense, and it is a testament to that famous backline that Arsenal was held for so long. Paulo Maldini sadly had his last game in the Champions League yesterday, and let me just say that he is the classiest of players. At 39, having won just about everything humanly possible multiple times, Maldini is a legend, and he was superb yesterday.

Yet, the chances kept on coming, but they fell to less then ideal people. Both Adebayor and Fabregas had hit the post in the first half, while Senderos and Eboue both missed absolutely fantastic chances with the net wide open. If Eboue wants to be a midfielder, he needs to learn how to shoot. But it didn’t matter, even when Walcott came on and missed another glorious chance. Our midfield maestro, our wonderkid, Francesc Fabregas popped up with a thirty-yard goal. I was honestly shocked when the goal came. He seemed too far out and the goalkeeper had seemed too good, but after five seconds I realized what had happened. Fabregas hit sidenetting from thirty yards out, the shot’s sublime accuracy, not its power, beating Kalac. Kalac is six foot seven, and it takes him awhile to get to the ground. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Then, I suddenly was impressed with Walcott. Not with his assist, which was very well done, and Adebayor’s goal, but with an incident with Kaka. Kaka had a 10 yard lead and was racing down the touchline, while our human lightning bolt came racing up, slidetackling him perfectly. That is the determination that you need Theo, and couple it with the skill you showed in the assist. Well done, and a great substitution by Wenger.

Overall, as a team performance and achievement, this game was as good as we’ve seen for a very long time. The next round will be very interesting, and I can only hope we don’t draw an English team, though the odds are high. But, if this performance is anything to go by, Arsenal has the capability to outplay any team in the world. Oh, and a nice piece of history. Arsenal have beat Real Madrid, Juventus and now AC Milan at home, all of which had never been beaten by English opposition before. This match is reminiscent of the 2006 Champions League, and with any luck we can meet Barcelona in the final and exorcise some demons.

Comments from Wenger:

“I have big respect for Milan, but my team deserves a lot of credit - having come here and beaten a team like them. We have given the performance we wanted. We played with organisation and never dropped off. We did not give them time and went forward every time we could. We played with authority, maturity, talent and intelligence. Sometimes as manager, you feel there is something in the team and you know that for them to get a step higher up they have to deliver in a big game like tonight. I hope this will strengthen the belief in the team. The players grow. I feel tonight they deserve a lot of credit, because our confidence level in the camp has dropped a bit. We have not been in the most positive environment recently, from the media. I like the fact the team finds the mental strength to play without restriction.”

Adebayor is optimistic:

“Beating this Milan team means we can beat every single team in the world. Now we’ve got that in our heads we can let ourselves go. We took control of the game really well defensively and we showed that we have a good team spirit.We came here to qualify and actually doing it is something really special.My goal was a simple goal, right in front of the posts. It was probably the easiest goal I’ve ever scored but it’s also the most important I’ve scored in my whole career.”

All in all, a very proud day to be a Gunner. That said, we have only reached the quarterfinals and we have only a point lead in the league. This team needs to be consistent, and use this performance as a starting point for the rest of the season. Arsenal can still take the double, but focus and determination are needed. Our future is in our hands though.

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