Arsenal v Villarreal + AC Milan v Barcelona (Spoilage)

Gooner14 said:
Arsène Wenger has named a 19-man squad for the Champions League Semi Final second-leg clash with Villarreal on Tuesday - and revealed Sol Campbell will start.

Jens Lehmann
Manuel Almunia
Sol Campbell
Gael Clichy
Kolo Toure
Emmanuel Eboue
Johan Djourou
Mathieu Flamini
Freddie Ljungberg
Robert Pires
Gilberto
Alexander Hleb
Jose Antonio Reyes
Cesc Fabregas
Alexandre Song
Abou Diaby
Thierry Henry
Robin van Persie
Theo Walcott

Good to see Gael back. That little **** Cole isn't still, only a few games left for him to play in his Arsenal shirt, till he can **** off.
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Maybe they'll let Theo on if they're doing well :D


Cole needs to go to chelsea so arsenal get money. He isn't needed whatsoever.
I want them to do Cole -> Wright Phillips + Monies with Chealsea.

That would prn.
 
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Villarreal --- (0)
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Arsenal ---- (1)

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By Richard Clarke in Villarreal

It has been a surprise even to Arsène Wenger that Arsenal’s Champions League campaign has been based on his defence.

They have reached the Champions League Semi-Final by getting a first leg lead and then protecting it. However, despite that record-breaking run of nine clean sheets, the manager knows his side can not afford to rely solely on the backline tonight at Villarreal.

A solitary goal from Kolo Toure won the opening rubber at Highbury last week. It puts the onus on the surprise Spanish side to break out of their compact, energetic formation at El Madrigal, their compact, energetic stadium, this evening in the second leg.

Arsenal will draw on the experience of decisive ties against Real Madrid and Juventus in the earlier rounds. Each time they had a lead going into the game, each time they cleverly balanced their attacking and defending instincts to achieve a goalless draw. Wenger’s wants more of the same tonight.

"Overall our defensive record is a bit of a surprise to me but I'm happy we have it,” he said. “This can be something that keeps the confidence up going into a game like this one.

"We have shown character against Juventus and Real Madrid and we need it again. It will be a more intimidating atmosphere because it is a small stadium and therefore I feel the heat will be higher.

"But we are solid defensively and every inch of confidence you get going into a game like this is important. Our record is something that can help.

“Let's try and score as well. That will be a big blow to them. You cannot go into a game 1-0 up and thinking you can just rely on that.

"I'm convinced Villarreal will play the same system with the 4-4-2. They will certainly be less timid than the first game. They will play a compact game but we have to play to win.

"It will be down to how we organise when we don't have the ball and how much we dare to go forward. We are a good team when we try to go forward.

“What will be important in midfield will be to win the ball back and then transform quickly into going forward that's why I will keep faith with the team who always play away from home.”

That last sentence seems to confirm that Wenger will field the 4-5-1 formation that has served him so well in Europe. The knee injury picked up by Philippe Senderos on Saturday has all but ended his season. Fortunately, Wenger has Sol Campbell fit again after undergoing surgery on the broken nose he suffered at Portsmouth. Gael Clichy has been named in an Arsenal squad for the first time since November and will be on the bench.

The Champions League has long been a holy grail for Arsenal. Of the eight seeds at the the start of the competition they were the only team that had not won the competition let alone never reached the Semi-Finals before.

The last question of a long day of press conferences on Monday enquired whether Wenger would prefer Milan or Barcelona in Paris on May 17.

"I will tell you tomorrow night,” he smiled. “Before that we'll just give 100 per cent in this game. We are not dreamers. We want to be successful and we want to put all our energy into this match and not start to dream about what could happen after."

If Wenger is true to his word then hopefully his answer is only a few hours away.
 
Spud21 said:
Is the ref the same as they had for the first leg ?
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Nope, tonight it's Valentin Ivanov (Russia) and for the first leg it was Konrad Plautz (Austria). I hope the standard is the same though, in the first match he didn't fall for any of their antics.

Team has been announced and is what everyone expected
* Jens Lehmann
* Sol Campbell
* Emmanuel Eboue
* Kolo Toure
* Gilberto
* Francesc Fabregas
* Mathieu Flamini
* Alexander Hleb
* Fredrik Ljungberg
* Jose Reyes
* Thierry Henry

For Villarreal Franco starts upfront instead of Jose Mari.
 
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bungler said:
Nope, tonight it's Valentin Ivanov (Russia) and for the first leg it was Konrad Plautz (Austria). I hope the standard is the same though, in the first match he didn't fall for any of their antics.
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hmm, hopefully he wont fall for it but i have my doubts there are very few refs in Europe that don't, at least he's not spanish, jesus they have crap refs.
 
Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Flamini, Hleb, Fabregas, Gilberto, Ljungberg, Reyes, Henry.

Bench: Almunia, Clichy, Djourou, Diaby, Song, Pires, Van Persie

Villarreal: Barbosa, Venta, Pena, Alvarez, Arruabarrena, Riquelme, Josico, Senna, Sorin, Forlan, Franco.

No Viera? Thought he was going to play.
 
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