There’s an odd statistic about top level European football, and it goes like this.
England, Italy and Germany – three of the most successful countries in European Cup/Champions League history – have never had a winner from their capital cities. In Germany, Hertha Berlin have never even come close. In Italy, Roma heartbreakingly lost the 1984 final to Liverpool on penalties in their own stadium. While in London, Arsenal and Chelsea know the pain of defeat only too well.
It was four years ago in Paris that the Gunners came so close. Everything appeared so perfect. It was Paris, the home town of the captain Thierry Henry, a second home for the Strasbourg-born manager Arsène Wenger. The Gunners had just called time on Highbury, their home for 93 years. What better way to leave the old ground than by parading the great trophy around it? What an occasion that would have been.
Would have been.
It all went sour just 18 minutes into the final against Barcelona. Jens Lehmann rushed from his goal and bundled over Samuel Eto’o, the subsequent red card put the Gunners firmly on the back foot, and although Sol Campbell thumped in a stunning header, late goals from Eto’o and unlikely hero Juliano Belletti clinched the trophy for Barça. Wenger, Henry and company were disconsolate.
In the following years, the exits have been just as heartbreaking. Manchester United overran them in the semi-final last May, Liverpool pipped them at the post in an enthralling quarter-final the season before, and PSV Eindhoven knocked them out at the Emirates in the second round the year before that. If you’ve spotted the pattern, Arsenal should reach the final this season.
To do that, they’ll have to overcome perennial second-round presence Porto, starting at the Estadio do Dragao tonight.
The Portuguese usually pose little problems for the English teams in the Champions League. A selling club, they lost two of their top talents in Lisandro Lopez and Lucho Gonzalez in the summer, and currently sit nine points adrift of league leaders Benfica – comfortably the best team in Portugal – in their domestic campaign.
Wenger will smell blood. Chelsea face a tough second-round task against Internazionale, Manchester United aren’t through yet, while Real Madrid have lost their opening leg. The Gunners have a real chance of progression to the quarter-finals – it probably won’t be decided tonight, but they should progress at the Emirates. From there, the tournament could open up for them. That first London success could be theirs.
Wenger won’t be planning any parties yet, but he knows that his team possess the talent and – crucially now – the experience to go all the way this year.
It’s about time that statistic was put right after all.
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