On the balance of the two legs, an aggregate score of 2-0 flatters AC Milan. A typical line of inquiry goes, "If Aston Villa outplay Arsenal, and Arsenal outplay AC Milan, are Aston Villa better than the European Champions?" There's an argument to be made.
The Villans aside, Arsenal really put it Milan on the night and over the 2 legs. Senderos seemed to know exactly how he wanted to defend against Pato, and Flamini repeatedly mugged Kaka.
Is it my imagination, or does Walcott create more in 5 minutes than Eboue does in an hour?
How reliable is Sagna? The guy is a rock.
Cesc found his form.
Adebayor could still pip him for man of the match, especially given his first half performance.
Hleb and Flamini added fabled chapters to their great seasons.
Clichy was everywhere, fairly typical for him.
Gallas made a few of his fiercely determined interventions.
Almunia was barely tested, but was mistake-free.
Diaby looked much more fit than he did against Aston Villa, and showed some signs of pace in the first half.
Who said anything about missing Rosicky and Van Persie?
1 hour ago
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6 deflections:
433, your ratings are spot on. I finished watching the match at 2AM and couldn't go to sleep because I was replaying the highlights in my head.
Diaby and Eboue were the weak links on the night but both contributed well. Both tracked back well to help out on defense and linked up quite well in the offensive half. Their low ratings are only a reflection of how much better the other players did.
I didn't see the distance statistics for Flamini at the end of the broadcast but he might have even exceeded my prediction of 13km. The guy was everywhere; he was the one who disrupted completely the offensive flow of Milan. Inzaghi and Pato were isolated up front because Cesc and Flamini handcuffed Kaka. The 5 midfielders of Arsenal dominated Milan's while Adebayor single-handedly beat the opposition's back line to a pulp.
Pirlo, Ambrosini, and Gattuso were run ragged by the consistently high tempo of the match. It was interesting that we were talking about the lack of middle distance shots on Arsenal's part in the Villa game and the Arsenal players showed last night that they were thinking the same. Hleb tried to sneak one from 25 yards early on but throughout the game, Milan tried to defend very deeply with 9 or 10 men so space was at a premium and not many shots were fired.
Milan came out with high energy and caused a bit of a scare in the early parts of the first half but they were soon put on their back foot by Arsenal's pressure. Cesc's clearance off the line of the Inzaghi header was crucial. The team would have been in trouble had that one gone in.
The play that led to Cesc's goal was a mini-break: Hleb made an interception near the center circle. A quick pass found Cesc in acres of space behind Milan's midfield who were stranded up field. Even with Gattuso closing in fast, Cesc had the composure to hit the shot right into the bottom corner of the goal. Fantastic!
Sending on Theo Walcott for Eboue is just the right call from Arsene. His pace caused all sorts of problem on the right flank and it pays off with his assist for the second goal of the night.
Arsenal's back four were solid, as a rock, as you say. the whole team played an almost perfect match. Very few mistakes were made and any danger that Milan posed were dealt with effectively.
Wow! What more can I say. This is the best match of the year so far.
Want to know what Flamini found in his pocket? Find out:
http://arsenal.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=504784
This was the best game of the season so far. My other favorites were also in the Champions League: 3-0 over Sevilla and 7-0 over Slavia Prague.
The Guardian has a bunch of great stuff on the game, including reaction from Italy, Arsene Wenger post-game, both Richard Williams and Kevin McCarra on the game, and Dominic Fifield's report and player ratings. Top publication, the Guardian.
Agreed, 433. I find their coverage excellent. Thanks for the article recommendations. My work productivity is at an all time low today!
Hey man...how are you doing? Just added your new site to my blogroll :) What a nite of football man...I was hopping up and down my sofa when Fabregas scored...imagine 5.30 something in the morning!!! Brilliant team performance and we tactically beat Milan. Lets wait and see how far we will progress in Europe and in the domestic league...
Nice site bro :)
Thanks, Freekicker. I enjoyed that Cesc goal as much as you did. I was envisioning a penalty shootout.
With this new Euro-phoria, would you rather see Arsenal win the Champions League instead of the Premier League?
What's the relative prestige or excitement in your area for these two competitions?
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