Stayed up till 4am this morning. Back in office by 9am. Tired. Sleepy. Drained. Emotionally spent. Was it worth it? Of course it bloody was! Arsenal came back from a goal down to win 2-1, and played one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen!
Champions League "Round of 16" 1st leg. Arsenal versus Barcelona. Everybody laughed at us. Mocked us. Pitied us.
“Barcelona’s the defending champion,” they said.
“How are you going to beat Barca?” they asked.
“Will you have the guts to watch the match live?” they mocked.
“Remember last year when Messi scored 4 goals?” they taunted.
“Barca were recently on a 16 games winning spree, has lost only 1 match and drawn 2 at La Liga so far, and currently on top of the table of Spanish league”, they reminded.
“They thrashed Real Madrid 5-0!” they concluded.
Bookies placed the odds at 29-0 or something like that for Barcelona to win, I remember reading somewhere.
Barcelona-Lite, they called us. Rubbing salt into an injury that wasn’t even there yet.
Well, what can I say. A big fuck you to all who didn’t believe in us! We played amazing last night, and emerged the clear victor.
Of course it was just the first leg, I know, I know. But this result definitely sends a clear message to all our critics. DO NOT TAKE US LIGHTLY. We are the mighty Gunners. We will load our cannons and fire up your Arse. We, the mighty Arse.
Sure, last year too when we faced Barcelona at the Quarter Finals for the first leg at Emirates, the score was 2-2. And this year, it is 2-1. How different was it, you may ask?
Well for one thing, it was an entirely different game. Last year, Barca were up 2-0 during the first leg. They dominated the game and we were lucky they didn’t score more. With around 20 mins left, Walcott fired one home to make the score 2-1. And then Puyol got a red card so Barca was one man down. We scored a penalty and eventually the score was 2-2.
But last night, things were completely different. Arsenal totally dominated the second half! Oh the passes, the one-touch game, the combination, the execution, they were all perfect! And it’s not like Barca played badly. No, they played their usual beautiful game. Arsenal just happened to trump that and played better. I would have definitely enjoyed watching the match even if I was not an Arsenal fan.
Jack Wilshere was definitely my man of the match. The youngster is the next Fabregas, trust me. Szczesny too played a pivot role in this grand victory. Hats off to him as well. Kudos to Kos for making sure Messi doesn’t make a mess this time.
But what made this victory even sweeter for me was that, I can now show our “Mumbai Mirror” newspaper the big middle finger!
Yeah, for those of us Arsenal fans in Mumbai, nothing was more insulting than the newspaper mocking Arsenal on Wednesday.
And they even got the fucking Arsenal lineup wrong!
Former Barca striker Ibrahimovic is playing for Arsenal? The same dude who scored twice against Arsenal in the first leg last year? Hah, Mumbai Mirror, you really really should be more careful with your source.
This morning as I picked up a copy of Mumbai Mirror, I laughed at it. A deep condescending evil laughter. MUAH HA HA HA. In your face, Mumbai Mirror.
Looks like Barcelona will now be called “Arsenal Lite”. Bwahahaha!
Champions League "Round of 16" 1st leg. Arsenal versus Barcelona. Everybody laughed at us. Mocked us. Pitied us.
“Barcelona’s the defending champion,” they said.
“How are you going to beat Barca?” they asked.
“Will you have the guts to watch the match live?” they mocked.
“Remember last year when Messi scored 4 goals?” they taunted.
“Barca were recently on a 16 games winning spree, has lost only 1 match and drawn 2 at La Liga so far, and currently on top of the table of Spanish league”, they reminded.
“They thrashed Real Madrid 5-0!” they concluded.
Bookies placed the odds at 29-0 or something like that for Barcelona to win, I remember reading somewhere.
Barcelona-Lite, they called us. Rubbing salt into an injury that wasn’t even there yet.
Well, what can I say. A big fuck you to all who didn’t believe in us! We played amazing last night, and emerged the clear victor.
Of course it was just the first leg, I know, I know. But this result definitely sends a clear message to all our critics. DO NOT TAKE US LIGHTLY. We are the mighty Gunners. We will load our cannons and fire up your Arse. We, the mighty Arse.
Sure, last year too when we faced Barcelona at the Quarter Finals for the first leg at Emirates, the score was 2-2. And this year, it is 2-1. How different was it, you may ask?
Well for one thing, it was an entirely different game. Last year, Barca were up 2-0 during the first leg. They dominated the game and we were lucky they didn’t score more. With around 20 mins left, Walcott fired one home to make the score 2-1. And then Puyol got a red card so Barca was one man down. We scored a penalty and eventually the score was 2-2.
But last night, things were completely different. Arsenal totally dominated the second half! Oh the passes, the one-touch game, the combination, the execution, they were all perfect! And it’s not like Barca played badly. No, they played their usual beautiful game. Arsenal just happened to trump that and played better. I would have definitely enjoyed watching the match even if I was not an Arsenal fan.
Jack Wilshere was definitely my man of the match. The youngster is the next Fabregas, trust me. Szczesny too played a pivot role in this grand victory. Hats off to him as well. Kudos to Kos for making sure Messi doesn’t make a mess this time.
But what made this victory even sweeter for me was that, I can now show our “Mumbai Mirror” newspaper the big middle finger!
Yeah, for those of us Arsenal fans in Mumbai, nothing was more insulting than the newspaper mocking Arsenal on Wednesday.
And they even got the fucking Arsenal lineup wrong!
Former Barca striker Ibrahimovic is playing for Arsenal? The same dude who scored twice against Arsenal in the first leg last year? Hah, Mumbai Mirror, you really really should be more careful with your source.
This morning as I picked up a copy of Mumbai Mirror, I laughed at it. A deep condescending evil laughter. MUAH HA HA HA. In your face, Mumbai Mirror.
Looks like Barcelona will now be called “Arsenal Lite”. Bwahahaha!
Wow, the Mumbai Mirror reporter is really thick, eh? Not only Ibra becomes a Gunner (how insulting is that to Arsenal), he thinks we will play 2 left backs and Squillaci for this crucial tie, and also that we'll leave RvP out! Who are these jokers that they get to do the reporting?
ReplyDeleteOn another note - How good is Wilshere? And Sczczesny too! And Koscielny is turning into a brilliant signing as well. We did this with a below-par Cesc and Nasri and out-of-sorts Song. Cant wait for the return leg!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI also remember 1-0 against Real Madrid. 2-0 against Juventus 1-0 againts AC Milan! :D and also 1-2 against Barcelona in 2006 :(.
ReplyDeleteBarca ah 2-2 a nih chuan ka duhtawk viau ang! WHooHOOhhoo!
@ Nirav: If only we could play every game like how we played the second half yesterday! It was pure magic! :)
ReplyDelete@ Mos: Ah, I will never forget that 1-2 defeat to Barca on CL Finals... such a sad bike ride home we had that night :(
Mi Football pet a lo tan ve em em reng ringawt mai hi. An hausa thur thur a kan lo lawm ve em em ringawt.
ReplyDeleteHave come by and read the post!! :D
ReplyDeleteHope you get the required sleep today1 :)
And yay! for u that Arsenal won!! :D
ok.. Im not sure why I clicked Anon! But, that's me (pixie) in the above comment! :D :D
ReplyDeleteMissed this post.
ReplyDeleteMe too remember the 2006 one. Watched with another girl in my hostel back in Mandya. And she was there for Barcelona. Such an awful moment.
This one, my boss here in charlotte (:)) asked everyone to schedule our calendar accordingly so that we all could catch, and then he had such a busy day, missed :( Had to watch after knowing the result.
I know Im late, but heck, YAY :)
toy_soldier
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