Arsenal is through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2010.
Wow.
14 years out in the cold. And here we are. What a feeling!
I’m a touch emotional about it because I wasn’t sure we’d ever get back the peak of European football. The club allowed itself to sag and bloat under a manager who had declined, they made a horrible mistake hiring a meek replacement paired with a horrendous football director… they finally saw the light and hired Arteta.
So few wanted to accept hiring someone with City and Pep ID was a good idea, no one wanted to accept he had the sauce, and people constantly ridiculed the idea he was generational.
Where are these guys now? They’re Steve Ballmer laughing at the iPhone. Alan Hansen saying, ‘You don’t win it with kids.’ Gary Neville scoffing at the Arsenal strategy.
There are so many people that have helped pull Arsenal back from a very dark place and I hope all of them are enjoying this moment.
Arsenal has been honest about who they are, what the strengths of the club could be, and they’ve gone all-in on a strategy that required taking a lot of pain along the way.
4 years into Arteta’s tenure, and we’re one of the 4 best clubs in Europe.
That is mad. Wild. Crazy. Too good to be true.
The FC Porto game was absolutely disgusting. We won, but I felt dirty. Like I’d tripped an old lady to win a sack race. I’d forgotten what the Champions League was about – the nostalgia always takes you back to attacking free-flowing football. The reality is closer to a brutal chess game in a very nasty prison cell.
Arsenal weren’t at their best, but they handled a very streetwise Porto side, then nailed them in a penalty shoot-out for the ages.
I told you I wasn’t selling my stocks in David Raya, and thank goodness I didn’t; he’s just gone NVIDIA on the base. As Matt said on the Arsenal Opinion, ‘he’s been near perfection since Dubai.’
That was his best game in an Arsenal shirt. He made saves, caught crosses, distributed like a king all night, then pulled off two world-class penalty saves (nearly three) and sent us into the next round.
There were rumblings we had two number twos at the club. Those silly proclamations can be laid to rest. David Raya is a special keeper and he’ll be knocking on the door of Ederson and Allisson very soon if he isn’t already.
Other notable performances: Martin Odegaard. He was an all action hero again. He pressed, he dropped deep, he drew players from all over the pitch to track his danger… then he struck with a Bergkamp like assist, serving up Trossard with a stunning pass he could dink home.
Not a big game player? Please.
There weren’t too many individual performances worthy of paragraphs – so I want to talk about the team.
Only Jorgi and Havertz have been this far in the Champions League. No one else in that team had. The game was tough, the opponent relentless, the jeopardy serious. Those boys did men things out there. They showed the type of maturity many a Wenger team could not. It was a very, very professional performance under huge pressure.
Then the penalties came… my word. They were stunning.
Odegaard – BANG
Saka – BANG
Havertz – BANG
Declan – BANG
I doubted every single one of them – but those guys didn’t. They were brutal penalties struck by young men keen to impress on the greatest club comp in the world.
We moved into the next round. Bayern, Madrid, PSG, Man City, and Barcelona… the sort of names you dream of! The only team I fear is Man City… and I suspect the only team Man City fears is Arsenal.
Let’s enjoy the moment and see what the Friday draw kicks up for us! x