UEFA Champions League
Round of Sixteen, Second Leg

AC Milan 0 – 2 Arsenal
Arsenal win 2 – 0 on aggregate

0 – 1 Fabregas (84)
0 – 2 Adebayor (90)

Ladies, Gentlemen, if you cannot enjoy an evening such as last night then it is truly time to pack up and walk away from football. The lows suffered always make the highs more beautiful to savour. Going into the match on the back of indifferent form and leaving your hosts acknowledging the margin of victory to be a fair reflection is always satisfying for fans so it ought to be for the players and staff as well. When those hosts are the reigning European Champions and a club with such a venerable history in the competition, it is a reflection of the stature of the achievement.

It was the complete team performance that we know that they are capable of, the best so far in 2008. The defending started from Adebayor to the back four and when Almunia was beaten, there was a man on the line. That the man was Fabregas sums up the evening; he chose the ultimate game to rediscover his form. Having been subdued in recent weeks, he emerged from his shell to dominate the midfield, prompting Adebayor and Hleb forwards with a full range of passing that stretched the Milan midfield and back four all evening. The middle quintet worked hard, enjoying varying degrees of success but all rarely giving their opponents time and space. When they did, it was individual brilliance from Kaka and Pato that created openings which were spurned.

Defensively, the team held firm and coped with most that was thrown at them with only a couple of real scares. The flanks were well marshalled by Clichy and Sagna whilst Gallas and Senderos got to grips with the Milan forwards. The Swiss international had a couple of his nervy minutes but was considerably better than commentator Clive Tyldesley’s description of being ‘prone to hapless moments’. Well, Clive, his moments come less frequently than yours do which is every time you open your mouth.

The opening salvos from Milan were answered with equal venom. Maldini’s header cleared off the line was met with the perfect riposte as Kalac’s fingertips were stung by Adebayor’s drive. As the game wore on, Arsenal emerged as more dominant, dictating the play. Hleb hassled, harried and dribbled around his opponents on a mission, providing support to Adebayor up front, never letting a gap emerge to leave the Togolese isolated against the Milan back four.

Half time often brings a loss of momentum; not last night. Within two minutes of the restart, Senderos was unable to wrap his foot around the ball when it fell to him and he shot straight at the Australian. It was however a sign that the form of the first forty-five minutes had not been lost by the interval. Moments later, Adebayor capitalised on sloppy play by Pirlo and fed Eboue on the right side of the penalty area, the shot sliced wide under pressure.

And so the game continued with Arsenal dominating possession, Milan breaking sporadically. When they did, they found the netting behind the goal more regularly than testing Almunia. With the game drawing to a close, Alexander Hleb wrested control in the centre of the pitch and fed Fabregas in the centre circle, a matter of feet inside the Milan half. Given the space, he moved forward and from thirty yards out, shot. Mindful that his effort in the first half had caused the woodwork to shudder, he kept the ball low and watched as it curled low into the bottom corner. It does not matter that Canadian Redwood’s have hit the ground faster than the Milan ‘keeper; all that counts is the ball spinning around the side and back of the net before nestling contentedly behind Kalac.

Having failed to score in the previous one hundred and seventy-four minutes of the tie, Milan sensed that twice in ten minutes was too much. The mountainous task became impossible when in injury time Walcott gave Kaladze a head start and still out-sprinted him to the ball. Having been on the pitch twenty minutes, he showed the same composure he had fifteen minutes earlier to pass across the face of the goal. This time, Kalac’s knee could not stop the ball reaching Adebayor who chose the same corner of the goal as Fabregas into which to deposit the ball. Quite possibly the best win in the club’s European history was sealed.

Arsene enjoyed the evening, overcome by emotion on the touchline, clutching onto Cesc after he scored like there was no tomorrow. The only thing missing was a headlock and Arsene slurring, “I love you like a brother” whilst ruffling the little Spaniard’s hair with his knuckles. After the match he was fulsome in his praise,

I believe that Fabregas, [Alexander] Hleb and [Mathieu] Flamini in the middle of the park delivered. They didn’t give Milan room. They defended very well and, when we had the ball, they had support from the flanks in [Bacary] Sagna and [Gaël] Clichy and supported them well. That gives them solutions. They did a good job defensively as well as going forward. The whole team did a good defensive job

Carlo Ancelotti conceded that the better team over the two legs won the tie,

I think over the 180 minutes they were able to play the way they know how and Milan didn’t achieve that with consistency. The credit goes to Arsenal, who pushed us all over the field and kept the pressure up

Cesc meanwhile enjoyed the moment but kept a level head,

To win in Milan 2-0, it is amazing. William [Gallas] said before the game enjoy the atmosphere. That is what we did. But this is just the beginning. We are now in the quarter-finals but we have not done anything. It is just one more step

The officiating left a lot to be desired as it always seems to on such days. There were wrong decisions such as Hleb being booked for diving after he had been fouled and Eboue’s showed the official being suckered by some acting, but it was the way for both teams and in that sense the officials were consistent. What was happening on the touchlines is anyone’s guess with Catweazle and his mop of busy hair interfering with his view on one side and a distant relative of Magnus Pike on the other, arms raised and moving around any time that the ball came near him.

Reality bites though and Wigan are now on the radar. Robin van Persie might well be fitter and perhaps able to play some part on Sunday. The squad is for the most part getting fitter and returning to the team as the run-in just got extended by at least two more games. For now though, the radiant sunshine this morning seems so much brighter.

‘til Tomorrow.