Arsenal face Villarreal in the Champions League Semi Final
second-leg on Wednesday night, in what will be their ninth
trip to Spain.
The Gunners have won just two of their previous eight encounters on
Spanish soil. Interestingly, it was their last two games, against
Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in February this
year and against Celta Vigo in last 16 of the Champions League
in 2004.
Tonight then, Arsène Wenger's troops will look to complete
the hat-trick and progress through to the Champions League Final
for what would be the first time in their history.
The win over Celta Vigo was inspired by two goals from Brazilian midfielder Edu, including a breath-taking solo effort from the edge of the penalty area. It was perhaps, the best goal and best performance by Arsenal against a Spanish side in Spain. That was of course until earlier this year.
On February 21, 2006, Wenger sent his young team out at the
Bernabeu, to face the most successful club side in European
competition. A team boasting such modern-day footballing luminaries
as Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Ronaldo.
Yet despite a commentator insisting at the start of the
match; 'never have Arsenal been so universally unfancied',
the Gunners produced a scintillating display of
counter-attacking football and dogged defending to become the first
Britich side to beat Real in Spain.
Thierry Henry scored a goal that was quite
simply,'out of this world' - and against a team
of 'Galacticos'.
Something similar tonight, and Paris awaits...
20/1 - Villarreal v Arsenal - Henry to score first and Arsenal to win 1-0
Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 24 Apr 2006
