Arsenal 1 Villarreal 0 [Semi-final of Champions League first leg; last European night at Highbury]
Arzo up-ends Flamini and gets a yellow – to match the yellow balloons and shirts and scarves of the away supporters.
The ball falls kindly for Toure in the Villarreal area from a Henry cross. He pokes it wide.
I ask Myles, semi-rhetorically: “Do you think he practices scoring.?” We both think not. The previous CL semi was decided by AC Milan’s misses. The portents aren’t good?
Gilberto heads a Henry cross wide and Senderos heads over when in space from a corner to add to the feeling.
The half speeds by.
Villarreal have a 4-3-1-2 formation. Myles points out they form a yellow curve wherever the ball is – making it hard to penetrate. The central Latin American midfield three of Sorin, Tacchinardi, and Senna kept their shape and discipline at all times. The midfield area was often congested, meaning Arsenal had to attack down the flanks. Reyes was missed as he would have been more penetrative than Ljungberg – and probaly won some free kicks in dangerous areas.
However Villarreal choked their own attack, limiting the space in which to move with Riquelme and Senna restricted to three or four long range shots. Gilberto had one of his best games for Arsenal, shadowing Riquelme.
A neat move involving Pires sees Henry slot home past Barbosa, but he is wrongly judged offside. You couldn’t judge properly from where we sat.
Also at the angle we sat, we couldn’t judge Gilberto’s tackle on Jose Mari.
Ljungberg had a chance set up by Henry from the left but the ball came to him too fast. Just before half time Henry set up Hleb who cut a low ball for Toure to score his first Highbury goal, and first for 14 months.
The game was not a spectacle befitting of a Champions League semi. But in practice these tend to be cat and mouse affairs.
Alvarez went to ground at every opportunity. Villarreal were experts in deliberately breaking up the rhythm of the game (so important to Arsenal’s play), with fouls around the half-way line.
Nevertheless Henry had a difficult chance from Eboue‘s hard cross from the right, but it was headed clear.
Wenger left it too late for the substitutes, Bergkamp and van Persie (for Hleb and Ljungberg) to have much effect in the continually disrupted game, which for the last European Highbury night was a great anti-climax.
Toure had another chance towards the end. He could have had a hat-trick. But made do with one.
Will it be enough? Arsenal have roughly a 60/40 advantage.