Arsenal (0) 2 - 1 (1) Valencia
Highbury, Wednesday 4th April 2001
UEFA Champions League Quarter-final 1st leg
scorers:
Henry 58 Ayala 40
Parlour 60
Arsenal:
Seaman
Dixon Keown Adams Cole
Pires Vieira Parlour Ljungberg (Wiltord, h-t)
Henry Kanu (Lauren 83)
See NewsReel report, and list of links to reports on other sites, below.
Arsenal went straight at Valencia from the start. It was old fashioned,
fast and furious attacking, and it caused problems for the
visitors. Henry in particular had a lot of joy on the left wing. Arsenal
forced four corners in the the first 15 minutes, and our corners caused
Valencia problems. One led to the traditional free kick for being too
near the keeper, and one led to Vieira hitting the cross bar from close
in. He probably ought to have scored, but bearing in mind how he played
it would be churlish to complain.
It was mostly continuous Arsenal pressure, but Valencia ably soaked it up
for the most part, and looked very dangerous on the break, Carew in
particular was a real handful (although a better ref might have spotted
his elbows). We weren't being very effective and we started lose
momentum. There were several warnings prior to their goal -- the worst
three being Ayala heading wide when unmarked at a corner; a deflected shot
(or cross) from Kily Gonzalez that Sanchez was just unable to reach; and an
excellent tackle from Seaman forcing Carew wide, from where Keown was able
to block off the goal and the striker missed.
Their goal when it came was from a corner that wasn't properly cleared.
The Arsenal defence pushed up piecemeal leaving gaps all over the place.
The ball was well played out to Mendieta on the right and his cross fell
eventually to Ayala who hit it well. (On the TV highlights when I got back
from Highbury they counted 5 Valencia strikers being marked by Keown,
Dixon and Kanu(!)). We were 1-0 down, and had a lot of work to
do. Highbury felt like it had been mugged.
We had come close -- we were making some chances. But they were soaking
the pressure and they seemed to make their chances count. Only a few
minutes before their goal Kanu had somehow managed to miss from the edge
of the 6 yard box (in fairness the replays on the big screen at half time
showed this to be a very difficult chance).
It all felt a bit deflated, but we hung on until half time. Then came an
excellent substitution. We knew Wiltord was coming on as he was not
playing silly games with the other subs, but for whom? Parlour and
Ljungberg were the obvious candidates -- I felt Parlour in the first half
was mostly awful but AW knows, and he took off Ljungberg. Ray proved him
right.
We started the second half as we did the first by piling on pressure, and
we started to cause them real problems. On one occasion Kanu was hauled
down and we got a free kick on the edge of the area. At the time I was
baying for a red card, as the player being booked was clearly the last
defender. In fact the foul was by a different player and the ref was
making a mistake. (Was the ref really as poor as he seemed? I was so
full of adrenaline I can't be fair.) The free kick was, of course,
awful. Arsenal need to work on these.
However that lifted the crowd a bit more, and they got behind the team
again. The second half was loud for the most part, and it got a lot
louder when we equalised just before the hour. Vieira bought the ball out
of defence and well into Valencia's half. He played it to Wiltord on the
left, who beat his man and pulled a ball back. Kanu struggled to reach
it, but he did manage to deflect it to Pires, who had his back to goal.
He back heeled it to Henry on the edge of the 6 yard box. He was never
going to miss. Valencia looked for offside (again the highlights later
showed TH was played on by at least 2 players) and we went wild. Only
moments later and we still hadn't recovered, when the ball dropped in
midfield to Kanu. Parlour took it off him and started a run, he went past
a defender, looked up and let rip a fantastic shot. At that point
Highbury erupted. Wow. 2-1 and it felt good!
Being honest I don't remember much of the game after that. Henry could
have made it 3-1 but their goalie (and the recovering defender) did very
well. Seaman had to act as sweeper on one occasion, and on another dived
bravely at the feet of Angulo (who was offside anyway). Valencia took off
their playmaker and their captain. Lauren came on for Kanu and did well
to help hold things in midfield.
Vieira was superb. He tackled, he fought, he tracked back. He helped MK
and TA with Carew. He played a key roll going forward and he encourage
the fans to make more noise (pumping up the West Stand after both
goals...). He was class. He likes it at Arsenal, and I don't thing he's
going anywhere.
Ashley did well against Mendieta, and his positional play was excellent
last night. He is a scarily good player, and the Silvinho v Cole
selection nightmare is one that I don't envy Wenger. The return of MK
alongside TA has been welcome, and the understanding they demonstrated in
this game will be vital over there.
Is 2-1 enough? In the closing minutes of the first half we'd have
settled at keeping it at 1-0. At half time we were looking for
1-1. However we should have got a third. On balance it is a good result,
and I think we can score over there. We just have the edge.
So two wins out of two. Bring on Spurs. Again.
report by Mike Pitt
Preview
- The ref
Some reports say it's Gilles Veissière from France, whose only previous Arsenal game was the recent 1-0 win at Sparta Prague. But the UEFA website says
the match ref will be Holland's Dick Jol, who hasn't taken an Arsenal
match before. See Refs section.
- Arsenal team news
Dennis Bergkamp has ruled himself out with the achilles problem
that saw him miss the Tottenham match on Saturday. It is very likely
to keep him out of the cup semi-final on Sunday too.
Apart from that, Arsenal are at full strength.
Wenger will have to decide between Kanu and Wiltord to partner
Henry up front.
Grimandi is available again after recovering from the flu,
but is likely to be on the bench with Wenger sticking with Adams & Keown in defeence, and
Vieira and Lauren in central midfield (although Soccernet reckon that Ljunberg will replace Lauren (presumably with Parlour moving infield).
Cole will retain the left-back spot and Wenger has commented on
the problem of having 2 great players in that position: "They are both
outstanding players and one day I will have to think about moving one
of them forward into midfield."
Edu is close to full fitness, and Wenger has said that he
could be involved at some point.
Liam Brady wants revenge - he missed the first spot kick in the shoot-out CWC final loss to Valencia back in 1980. The memory still hurts. People always think
about Graham Rix when they recall that match
because he missed the last penalty in the shoot-out.
Some of them forget I missed one too - but I never
will.
It was practically my last game for Arsenal before I
moved to Juventus, and it was especially shattering
because we had also lost the FA Cup final to West
Ham a few days earlier. I would love to see our
present lads turn that around now."
- Valencia team news
Argentine playmaker Pablo Aimar has been out injured but is
hoping to be ready for the match. But Valencia have been hit by an injury to
Romanian striker Adrian Ilie. He tore a leg muscle playing against
Georgia on wednesday and will be out for a month at least (ie missing
both Arsenal ties).
update Tuesday: As expected, Aimar is in the squad. He passed a fitness test
on Monday but may not be considered ready to start. But Didier
Deschamps is out with a hamstring injury, it is unlikely that he'll
be back in time for the second leg, either.
- UK TV/Radio coverage
The match will be live on ITV2 (cable. OnDigital), and on terrestrial
ITV in the Carlton and West Country regions only (elsewhere it's
Leeds-Deportivo).
Commentators Clive Tyldesley and Jim Beglin (presumably the BFR's
covering Leeds).
British viewers with Sky boxes should note that the German channel RTL
will be showing the game live too. See FAQ for instructions)
- non-UK TV coverage
- Finland: Live on Nelonen
(thanks to Pasi for the info)
- India: Live on ESPN, 19:30 Indian time, but check
espnstar.com
for regional times (and for other countries that can get espnstar)
(thanks to poochgunner for the info)
- Germany: Live on RTL (satellite)
(thanks to Maurice Tyler for the info)
- Switzerland: Live on TSI2 (Swiss Italian channel)
(thanks to Robin Ward for the info)
- Norway: Live on TV3
(thanks to Eirik for the info)
- Sweden: Live on TV3
- USA: Live on ESPN2, starts 2.30pm EST/ 11:30am PST
(thanks to Lawrence for the info)
- Canada: Live on TSN, starts 2.30pm EST/ 11:30am PST
- For details, and countries not listed above, see the
non-UK TV FAQ
- See also
Other reports
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