Arsenal progressed serenely into the Champions League semifinals for the first time in their history on Wednesday with a thoroughly professional performance against Italian giants Juventus.
The Gunners drew 0-0 — winning 2-0 on aggregate — against a less-than-inspired Juventus outfit, whose appalling disciplinary record in the quarterfinal saw a third player sent off in Pavel Nedved.
Arsenal’s patched-together defence — missing England regulars Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell, although the latter was available for selection on Wednesday — also racked up a record eighth straight clean sheet in the competition.
They can go into a semifinal against surprise packages Villarreal with confidence, though they will be mindful that the Spaniards have already seen off three British sides in Everton, Manchester United and Rangers.
In the other quarterfinal match on Wednesday, Barcelona set up a mouthwatering clash with AC Milan — who thrashed them 4-0 in the 1994 final — after beating plucky Portuguese side Benfica 2-0, also 2-0 on aggregate.
Ronaldinho overcame having an early penalty saved to open the scoring in the 19th minute with a beautifully worked goal, but the Catalan giants had to wait until a minute from time to ensure the last four spot as Samuel Eto’o scored.
While Arsenal rightly celebrated their best-ever showing in the competition — two quarterfinal places being their previous best — it was not enough for their inspirational French striker Thierry Henry.
”I am really proud but it’s not the sort of history I want to make,” said the Frenchman. ”I’m a winner and while it’s a good day for the club let’s go on further. What counts is who is the best on the day, not what league is the best as the Italians keep telling us they have — we were the best today [Wednesday].
”Also, we carried on defending as a team even when we were 11 against 10 [Pavel Nedved was sent off with 12 minutes remaining]. Of course a lot is centred around concentration and we were focused, except for once, but Jens Lehmann was there to save.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said that his team had once again defied those who had written their chances off — mainly because of a serious dip in their Premiership form earlier in the season.
”Nobody expected that from our players,” purred the Frenchman. ”Overall I feel we have become better and better. We were in control. We still managed to play in a controlled way. You saw another side of this team tonight.”
He was particularly proud of the defence.
”It’s very surprising. I never expected that. They have a good combination with Gilberto Silva in front of them and Jens Lehmann behind them.”
Wenger’s Juventus counterpart Fabio Capello had no doubts that Arsenal had what it took to go all the way.
”If Arsenal can stay in this kind of physical shape, they will definitely be very hard to beat,” said Capello, who masterminded several European Cup victories with AC Milan in the early 1990s.
Another AC Milan old boy, Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard, was nonchalant about facing his old club as he displayed his newly found diplomacy which he had rarely shown as an uncompromising if stylish central defender turned midfielder.
”I think it will be a very interesting game against a very strong team. Personally, for me, I already played against Milan a lot of times as a player and as a coach — so it’s not that new for me. It’s just another game.” — Sapa-AFP