No Doubting Tomas

I've seen a couple of awe inspiring second leg comebacks in my time. The first was Preston North End's 4-1 win over Torquay United at Deepdale in the 1994 Division Four Play Off Semi-Final Second Leg, to date the last senior English football match played on a plastic pitch. The other, a little more pertinent to my night's viewing, was Fulham's epic 4-1 win over Juventus en route to their 2010 Europa League Final appearance. Both comeback's followed a similar path, the task initially became more difficult when the opposition increased their lead with an away goal, which was swiftly followed by the dismissal of a domineering centre back, Darren Moore and Fabio Cannavaro respectively, both of whose early baths proved key to their team's ultimate demise.

Pondering this correlation as I walked up Holloway Road the former factor would surely prove fatal to Arsenal's cause, a 6-1 win simply out of the question, the latter meanwhile would be most welcome. Neither came to pass in a game where Arsenal's stock rose by appealing to that peculiar human trait, the love of a gallant loser.

With, as Arsene Wenger neatly surmised, a 95% chance of failure, Arsenal had almost nothing to lose and this feeling seemed to imbibe their approach with a joyful, irresponsible attacking abandon. This in turn was reflected and reinforced by a watching crowd who bellowed their support throughout, as my croaky voice paid testament to the day after.

This was my first visit to Arsenal since the FA Cup win over Leeds and the recent win over Spurs seemed to have infused the ground with a renewed sense of belief which was soon rewarded by Laurent Koscielny's opening goal, an unchallenged near post header from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's corner. The early goal served its purpose by ensuring atmosphere remained at fever pitch. 

The Gunners sustained their lung busting start, inspired in the middle of the pitch by the flying Czech, Tomas Rosicky. Only guaranteed a game by the absence of others since returning himself himself from long term injury, and seen as a symptom of the club's demise by his unfortunate habit of grinning when Arsenal conceded a goal, his return to form in recent weeks has been a remarkable renaissance, perhaps helped by Wenger being forced to play him in the centre of midfield. This saw him ideally positioned to pick up a weak clearance and thump home Arsenal's second, again nicely timed to keep the comeback bubbling nicely.

Milan had no answer to the red rampage, clearly seeing no capacity for improvement in their opponent's woeful first leg performance, and when Oxlade-Chamberlain was cynically squashed in a Milanese sandwich, the tension created by the subsequent penalty award was palpable. The spot kick provided the opportunity for the come back to cross the rubicon from dream to reality, placing the teams just one goal apart. Robin Van Persie showed great nerve to ignore Mark Van Bommel's attempts at gamemanship, before despatching the ball like a missile into the back of the net.

On the face of it this was the perfect set up for the second half but the question remained how Arsenal could sustain their breathless tempo, with little to sustain it available on the bench. Still chances were bound to arrive at either end and now it was the goalkeepers' turn to shine. 

Any straw poll would have certainly selected Van Persie with the chance to equalise, but from close range his too clever by half flick was matched by the mighty paw of Christian Abbati. Milan's more realistic approach to ensuring their win, may have led to accusations of cynicism but their spoiling tactics were a natural response to the first half onlslaught and almost created a chance to put them out of sight but Antonio Nocerino couldn't quite do enough to trouble Wojciech Szczesny from close range towards the end.

Hope sprang eternal amongst the men in red shirts who sunk to the ground in agony at the final whistle, none more so than man of the match Rosicky, part of a team fully deserving of a standing ovation for producing a performance which almost erased the memory of that in the first leg.

Lone Ranger

It was left to Robin Van Persie to again secure Arsenal three points with the much maligned Andrey Arshavin playing Tonto to the Dutchman's lone ranger by setting up the only goal of the game.

It was a contest that on the face of it had much in common with that played four days earlier here against Wolves but whereas in that game it was a superb goalkeeping performance that stopped a comfortable Arsenal win, on this occasion it was the Gunners' profligacy in front of goal that prevented a greater margin of victory.

The game opened with the opposition looking solidly set to do all they could to earn a goalless draw with a backline so deep they might as well have stayed in West London. This allowed the Dutchman sitting next to me to get on with sorting out his emails on his iPad, with Szczesny the only goalkeeper being called into action. Thus I was given time to ponder similar New Year clashes, with a mid 80s fixture between the two clubs when Ian Allinson was the unlikely star in a 3-1 win not looking favourite for a repeat. Instead it was a goalless draw at Elm Park when Huddersfield manager Neil Warnock celebrated as if he'd won promotion by holding the mighty Reading that seemed most likely to play out in front of me.

As the half drew on though Arsenal created a number of chances and should have converted at least one before half time, being unfortunate on a couple of occasions when Joey Barton cleared off the line and Matthew Connolly handled the ball without penalty in the box. Barton of course had earlier introduced himself by upending Mikel Arteta, going onto try and ensure he wasn't alone in the referee's book by rolling around on the turf whenever he was challenged.

With Aaron Ramsey pulling the strings Arsenal continued to dominate after the break but Theo Walcott lack of match fitness was reflected by the way he spurned the best chance of the game one on one with Cerny. QPR  were beginning to look like they might get something out of the game before shooting themselves in the foot when a misplaced pass from Shaun Wright-Phillips found Arshavin who fed Van Persie to score.

Aside from Gervinho missing a sitter it was a nervy finish from Arsenal with QPR raising the tension every time they attacked but the scoreline remained the same at the final whistle leaving Arsenal fans to scurry off down the Holloway Road to their New Year's Eve celebrations in the knowledge that at the halfway stage of the league season the Gunners had completed their comeback from a disastrous start to end 2011 in the top four.

The journey home was enlightened by a programme article about former Arsenal player Dave Bowen who holds two club records more noteworthy than the irrelevant one Van Persie broke with his goal. Firstly Bowen, along with Jack Kelsey, was the first Arsenal player to play in the World Cup Finals when he represented Wales in the 1958 tournament in Sweden. Secondly Bowen is the only Arsenal player to have a stand named after him, at Northampton's ground, the club he took from Fourth to First Division as manager in the 1960s.

Pass Masters

So much has been written about the Arsenal win over Barcelona that there seems little left to say about the game result.  However as much news ink and band width has been spent in miserly mood, shaking metaphorical heads about away goals and revenge at the Nou Camp the main point about Wednesday night has been missed.  It was simply a joyous occasion and a wonderful spectacle to be involved in.

Perhaps it also marked a shift in Arsenal's status as it most certainly felt like a European occasion with little connecting it to English traditions.

Maybe this was due to the fact that I arrived at the game on the Eurostar from Brussels.  With little point in crossing London and back to go home I opted to grab a bite at the architectural marvel that is St. Pancras International and with plenty of time in hand decided against the crush of the tube in favour of the 91 bus.  This proved to be a prescient move as from the top deck travelling up the Caledonian Road the stadium was framed perfectly by the London skyscape, and as it drew closer the spotlights beamed into the sky to create a stellar ECL logo gave little doubt that Ashburton Grove was the place to be.

The free flags (as seen above) given to everyone in a home seat were no match for the waving of a red and white bar scarf but the huge red and white banners raised behind each goal really added to the carnival atmosphere.

The noise itself didn't seem quite as intense as at the corresponding fixture twelve months previously, a sign perhaps of the more equal nature of the contest compared to Barcelona's 2010 mauling of a badly depleted Arsenal.  Of course you will be sick of hearing by now how Jack Wilshire came of age in this game, but what about Laurent Koscielny giving his best performance in an Arsenal shirt, probably helped by the fact he wasn't faced by a physically domineering centre forward.

Being sat above the Barcelona fans compensated for all the goals being up the other end with Arshavin's instant strike winner really taking the breathaway of all at the Clock End.

All that was left to do was to wander through the side streets to the Holloway Road along with 60,000 other Gooners buzzing with excitement at being Kings of Europe for one night at least whilst hoping that the spirit of George Graham's 90s defensive fortress of Dixon, Bould, Adams and Winterburn can be revived in Catalonia in March.