By Myles Palmer
________________________
INTER MILAN 1 ARSENAL 5
________________________
Henry 25, Vieri 33, Ljungberg 48, Henry 85, Edu 88, Pires 90.
___________________________________________
A COLOSSAL team performance, one of the finest in Arsenal’s proud history.
Kanu was excellent for 70 minutes.
Yes, I think you should read that line again!
I don’t believe it either.
But it’s true !
Edu and Parlour dominated midfield.
Cygan played well.
The teamwork was fantastic.
The finishing was awesome.
Pires was excellent in the first half
Arsenal made Inter Milan look utterly average.
Biggest factor?
Mental strength.
Arsenal were more positive, more focused, more able to get their game together on a wet pitch, less scared of losing.
Arsenal concentrated on playing the match, not the occasion.
Inter sank to the occasion.They froze.
They played in an inhibited manner, so Arsenal were able to seize the initiative.
INTER kept five men back in the first half.
Like all Italian teams, they were too cautious.
They had three dangerous strikers, but they did not supply them or support them with midfield runners.
Henry gave us 25 minutes of timidity and then scored a stunning goal with a sidefoot shot from 18 yards after his pass to Ashley Cole came back off Javier Zanetti.It was Pires-Henry-Zanetti-Henry – goal !
A sensational finish and wholly typical of Thierry.
INTER levelled when Cristiano Zanetti took a bad Edu pass off Parlour and passed forward to Vieri, who was given too much space and his wayward shot hit Campbell’s ankle and spun over Lehmann and in off the underside.
So it was 1-1 after 32 minutes.
Freddie was lost and peripheral on the right.
But he popped up after half-time at the near post in a borderline offside position as Henry passed to him.
He killed the ball with his right foot and smacked it past Toldo with his left – and the flag stayed down.
You see these disallowed every week of every season. Replays showed Freddie was level. Or level-ish.
AFTER THAT, ARSENAL BATTERED INTER.
It was the Thierry Henry show and it could have been 3-1 in 52 when Toldo came out to Henry’s feet and he could have gone round him. But he jabbed the ball against Cordoba and the chance was gone.
By now it was clear that Arsenal were much more confident than the Italians.
Inter did not have the collective power and flair that I had expected and their midfielders were being outplayed.
Arsenal kept their nerve and outpassed them.
CANNAVARO went off injured, Cygan tripped Martins, van Der Meyde’s free-kick seemed to be defelcted by a blocker but no corner was given, then Toure headed a corner against Freddie’s hip and the ball trickled wide.
In 66, Henry at last beat Cordoba and crossed low to the far post. But Freddie had gambled on a near post run and could not connect.
In 71, Gilberto came on for Kanu.
In 77, Henry beat Materazzi and saw his shot squirt off Toldo’s arm for a corner on the far side.
Then Ashley Cole made a wonderful block on a Martins shot as Lehmann’s knee clattered painfully into his back.Ouch!
In 85, Henry scored the best Ronaldo goal of his career so far.
After an Inter corner he broke onto a Parlour header at lightning pace from the halfway line,teased Javier Zanetti, cruised past him on the outside and slammed a ferocious left-foot shot across Toldo and into the far corner to finish the contest.
Henry’s goal for 3-1 was one of those very rare moments – like Kanu’s goal for 2-0 against Bayern, like Parlour’s for 2-1 against Valencia – that convince you anything is possible.
Then he provided his second assist from the right.
His pass beat Ljungberg and the sprawling Toldo and Edu made it 4-1 at the far post.
In 90, ALIADIERE came on for Henry and set up Pires, very unselfishly for 5-1.
This kid has a very cool head.
Most young strikers would have had a shot, but Aliadiere was thinking one move ahead as he calmly passed to Pires, who had a better angle
Henry, denied a third goal or a third assist, raced back on the field to join the kisses and hugs.He hadn’t had time to put on his tracksuit top.
A year ago tonight Henry scored a hat-trick in Rome.
But he is a playmaker as well now.
A year ago he could not have done what he did in Milan.
He scored two and made two, and he almost scored more.
Toldo will have nightmares about this game.
So will Vieri, who did not celebrate his equaliser.He does not want to be there.
His mate Ronaldo was sold, then his mate Crespo was sold.
Christian Vieri is NOT a happy kangaroo right now.
EARLIER, KIEV KEEPER Shovkovsky produced yet another howler in a big game as Lokomotiv Moscow beat Dynamo Kiev 3-2.
In the semi v Bayern that clown let in a 40-yard free-kick by Effenberg, I can see it now.
In last day qualifiers and play-offs for Ukraine, he has fumbled his nation out of qualification for France 98 and Euro 2000 against Russia and Slovenia.
With the score at 2-2 in 89 minutes this six foot five inch nincompoop has to grab a simple high ball.
Sub Winston Parks does not challenge him for it. The ball is so high, and the keeper is so tall, that the striker has no chance.
But Shovkovsky drops it and Parks knocks in the winner in 89 minutes.
He is a total tart!
Dynamo Kiev will never get anywhere until they hire a good keeper.
ARSENAL should now qualify for the last 16 by beating Lokomotiv in the final game on December 10th.
27th November 2003.