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Wenger’s European issue?
- Updated: September 28, 2016
It’s 20 years since Arsene Wenger was appointed by Arsenal but European glory still eludes him. Nick Wright examines a history of underachievement on the continent and ponders the psychological effects of losing the 2006 Champions League final to Barcelona.
It was April 2006 and Jens Lehmann’s 89th-minute penalty save from Villarreal’s Juan Roman Riquelme had just secured Arsenal’s passage to the first Champions League final in their history. The injury-hit Gunners had been struggling in the Premier League, but on the European stage their patched-up team had exceeded everybody’s expectations.
Everybody’s except, perhaps, Thierry Henry’s. The Arsenal captain had scored five times in that extraordinary Champions League campaign, and as he reflected on their run to the final in the aftermath of the Villarreal tie, he cast his mind back to their stunning last-16 victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.
“From that moment something happened,” he said. “The way we won there, knocking them out, gave us all a great lift. Even though the games against Villarreal were far more difficult, beating Madrid, the name, the place, the reputation, it did something in all our minds.”
Arsenal had shown the gritty resolve and defensive nous that seemed to ebb away after the break-up of the Invincibles, and with a little help from Lehmann’s right glove, they had knocked out Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal without conceding a single goal. “We are not just a team that can win by playing good football,” said Henry. “We can win by playing ugly, too.”
For 76 minutes in Paris three weeks later, Henry’s comments rang true. The 10-man Gunners frustrated Barcelona and might even have added to Sol Campbell’s emphatic opening goal, but the Catalans were persistent. Samuel Eto’o equalised, and then came Juliano Belletti’s winner, lashed agonisingly through Manuel Almunia’s legs from an acute angle.
Wenger and his players stood dejected in the drizzle as Barcelona raised the trophy. The …
