The Brilliance of Youth at the Emirates

1 - 1 was the score at El Madrigal, Spain. Wednesday, 15th of April 2009 at 20.45 was the time for Arsenal to face the Yellow Submarines, Villarreal. Monsier Wenger, the manager of Arsenal picked a team with an average of 23, the youngest team playing in this year's Champions League quarterfinals. On the other side of the field, Manuel Pellegrini picked a team fully loaded by South American talents, a team which looked promising to provide a shock here at the Emirates. 

The match started then and it was fully loaded with brilliance. Early strikes from Van Persie, Walcott, Adebayor, and Nasri was not enough to break Villarreal's wall. Diego Lopez, as the keeper, was also on his top form. Those early strikes were breathtaking but Lopez was always capable of saving his net and keeping his clean-sheet in those early minutes. All sounded well but a pass from Eboue to Fabregas was continues with a back heel pass to Walcott who managed to escape from the off-side trap. Then, what happened was a beautiful lob, high and accurate ripped apart Villarreal's heart since Walcott put an early end to Lopez's hope for a clean-sheet. "The Brilliance of Youth", the commentator described about this goal and it was magnificently splendid for it showed that you can win with kids.

The rlast 30 minutes of the first half was also filled with actions. Strikes from various players from both teams really test both goalkeepers, Lukasz Fabianski of Arsenal and Diego Lopez of Villarreal but to everyone's disappointment, there weren't any more goals during the first half. 

The second half started 15 minutes later and Villarreal was more determined than ever to turn things up. Shots filled the first minutes of the half but at the 60th minute, a clever on-ball move by Robin van Persie dragged 2 players to him then he smartly passed the ball to Emmanuel Adebayor, who was unguarded. He then calmly performed a shot with the outer side of his right foot, smashing the ball into the corner of Diego Lopez's net. 2 - 0 for Arsenal and everyone knew it was approved. Arsenal were through to the next round.

But Arsenal weren't satisfied yet. A smart move by Walcott in the penalty box provocated Gonzalo to foul him and to everybody's surprise, Wolfgang Stark, the referee pointed to the spot. Penalty for Arsenal and to worsen things, Eguren was booked for the second time and he was awarded with a red card. Manuel Pellegrini was hopeless. Most likely to be 3 -0 down in just a matter of seconds and with only 10 players, this was a mission impossible.

IN! Robin van Persie executed the penalty perfectly, sending the ball beyond Lopez's reach. 3 -0 at the Emirates and everyone agreed, "We're going to see an all-English semi here!" The game then ended 21 minutes later and Arsenal were through to the semifinals, facing either Man United or Porto as their opponent.