Fenerbahce 2-5 Arsenal.
What does this signify?
It's simple, really.
Arsenal will win the Champions League. How do I know that?
If Fenerbahce can go unbeaten in 15 games, and beat Chelsea 2-1 at that, and Arsenal with 3 of their back 4 missing, playing 4-5-1 without van Persie can beat them, it only shows one thing.
Absentees make a team stronger and Arsenal have the "Character" needed to win the CL.
Anyway, back to the game.
The first 5 minutes were pretty damn gritty, as Daniel Guiza (Who was supposed to come to Arsenal -.-) smashed a piledriver into Almunia's face in the exact same way Ronaldo smashed it into Lehmann's face.
Cesc Fabregas was getting impatient, floating several passes into the box, but to no avail as no one really bothered to attempt going through 5 men just to try a header.
Then in the 10th minute, pure vision from Fabregas as he sent a pass between the 2 center-halves to Adebayor, who blazed towards the goal, the defenders lazily jogging towards him ( lol nub! ) Walcott almost got offside from touching the ball but got away quickly.
Frankly, I thought Adebayor would miss but he clipped it into the bottom corner for his 7th goal in 10 appearances. In great form.
In the 11th minute, Fabregas played the exact same pass (Aragones was like, WTH?) to Walcott, who cooly rounded the keeper and slotted it in with composure.
2-0 in 11 minutes at Istanbul.
If you stare more closely at your TV set, or if you were at Istanbul watching the match (Less than 3000 people bothered to), you would notice that the Fenerbahce fans were already leaving the stadium. Haha..
Diaby then had some nifty footwork, step-overs and flip-flaps whatsoever in true Joga-Fashion.
He crossed it low along the 6-yard box to Nasri, who blasted it towards goal. Unfortunately, a great save denied what would have been the shock result of the season.
Song got a needless yellow card from impeding Guiza, and the resulting free kick was taken by Alex, headed by Guiza and Silvestre, in a hurry to clear it put his foot in the air, sending it into the wrong net.
2-1 in 19 minutes. 3 goals from Arsenal though.
Silvestre was pretty embarrassed but made up for it by sending a long ball to Diaby, who again, tricked 3 defenders, and calmly shot the ball into the narrow goalpost with his left-foot.
I remember there was a game when Diaby had 80-90 touches, all with his right foot, and yet he was entertaining us with his left foot this time.
3-1 to the Arsenal.
After that Guiza got a goal from a volley, but was correctly ruled offside. He was 2 yards of and frankly, I think that he deserved a yellow-card or a warning for continuing play despite knowing he was offside.
The half ended after the second-striker of Fener had a 1 on 1 with Almunia, who made him look like a bloody noob.
The second half started pretty much like the first, Arsenal dominating possession.
Then Nasri got fouled along the outside of the box, and the crappy defender got a yellow for a clumsy tackle on our injury-prone player.
Free kick, head, head and a header from Silvestre to Song's feet, who volleyed it impressively.
Another one on one was saved by Almunia, but a long ball from Alex carelessly headed behind by Song gave Guiza the opportunity to lob Almunia (Lucky).
The rest of the game was pretty much Arsenal.
Then in the last 20 minutes, Ramsey was subbed in.
He played several audaciously long balls, all failing or not making an impact. He only made an impact at the last minute of the game, as Eboue gave him a simple ball, and he placed the shot towards the goal. It hit the post and bounced in, in true ruthless fashion for the Fener fans.
2-5. Game over.
Ratings:
Almunia: 9.1 He just seems to get better and better and better each game! Survived 3 gruelling 1 on 1's.
Song: 7.6 He just can't play on the right-back position. Looked much better in CB. But made a bad mistake though.
Eboue: 8.3 He played pretty well in RB, his natural position but wandered around too much.
Silvestre: 8.1 Watchful defending from the veteran defender, scored an own goal but really couldn't help it.
Clichy 8.5: Absolutely brilliant from the young but old defender. He tricked the crap out of the strikers and was a nightmare for Guiza.
Diaby: 9.4 Omg. Omg. Omg. Omg. GENIUS!!! He looks like the package promised, the all-rounder attacking mid. Gave the defence hell with fantastic tricks and shot, made Edu look like a bloody semi-pro player.
Fabregas 9.1 2 assists and several tricky runs and passes. A standard performance from the best attacking-holding-striking central midfielder.
Denilson 8.7 He looks more and more like a partner to Cesc. Didn't defend fantastically well though. It looks like we still do need Yaya.
Walcott 8.6 Great composure in finishing and gave Roberto Carlos the ownage of his life with his speed.
Nasri 8.2 Was overshadowed by his team-mates, didn't play particularly well but had several tricks up his sleeve.
Adebayor 8.6 A all-round good performance from the Togo goal-machine. If he continues scoring, he can break his previous year record. It is also worth mentioning he has scored 7 times and assisted 5 in 10 appearances.
MotM: Abou Diaby.
Sub of the Match: Aaron Ramsey.
(Aaron Ramsey)
