Henry - one of the ogres of europe!
Just been reading the (english translation of the) match report on Real Madrid's website and it made for interesting reading! They described us (in that game at least) as "ultra defensive" - god knows what they'd make of most of the other English teams then!
Here's the report:-
0-1: Nothing lost, but next they play at Highbury
Henry, with a goal right at the start of the second half, obliged Real Madrid to win in London for the last sixteen. The Whites gave it everything all the way to the end, but the structured defence made up of Wenger, and led by Hleb and Gilberto, made it too difficult to be able to do any damage. On the 8th of March, at Highbury, the resolution of the knockout.
The atmosphere of the Champions League filled the Bernabéu with the visit of a new rival to Spanish territory, Arsenal. With 400 accredited media representatives at the game, and the English with an ultra defensive system, Real Madrid faced their European challenge in their own country at an excellent moment. López Caro put on his most attacking eleven, with Ronaldo, Zidane, Robinho, Beckham and Zidane. In defence, despite Woodgate having recovered his place, he soon had to say goodbye after once again suffering from the injury in his left thigh. To face one of the ogres of Europe, Thierry Henry, Álvaro Mej*a came on, for one of the toughest tests of his career.
English wisdom
Wenger had seen a lot of videos of Real Madrid to try and disconnect the pair of Zidane-Guti. He left Pires on the bench unexpectedly, and brought on the double defensive pivot of Hleb-Gilberto. Their contribution turned out to be destructive for the Whites play, who, on occasions, were overcome in the middle and had to rely on Ramos and Mej*a. Henry, Reyes and Ljunberg had the best chances of the start of the game, who, thanks to his lack of judgement, didn’t make the knockout too difficult. López Caro, after the events at La Romareda, asked for caution from his wingers so as to not leave the defence unprotected.
Getting some air
Bernabéu suffered during the first twenty minutes, but they started to awaken and push their team on when Guti and Zidane put in an appearance. Overcoming the organized English defence was difficult, and with the speed of Touré and Eboué, even tougher. The way forward was to pass a lot and look for ways through to open up play, which started to appear when the ball went past the feet of Senderos and Flamini. Cicinho was booked for a tackle on Reyes, and had to re-double his wariness of the Andalucian. The first half passed agonizingly, with the best sensation for Madrid who, with Roberto Carlos, Robinho, Beckham and Ronaldo could have upset the game. Lehmann, the German insurance policy, stopped them.
A run by Henry
Two missions for the second half: preventing Ljunberg getting to the ball easily and getting the best possible mobility in attack. But there was nothing they could do about the sublime run by Henry in the first minute of the second half. He silenced the Bernabéu with a demonstration of class. Farina didn’t award a clear penalty on Cicinho but the fans got even more enthusiastic, as they could see Raúl warming up. The goal hurt, but they got over it as nothing was lost despite the crushing attacks from the London players. The captain appeared to add emotion to a game that was waning at times, brought about by the careful play of Hleb and Gilberto –who threw cold water on the efforts of Roberto Carlos.
Raúl came close to a goal with a header, but it was hard to get close to Lehmann. The Whites defence were living on the edge as they were right up in the midfield. Wenger gave some breathing space to Madrid when he brought off Hleb –for Pires-, at the moment that Baptista came on to replace Gravesen and the team got the idea once again: attack. Lehmann took down Beckham and the Bernabéu once again shouted for the maximum punishment. They were difficult moments as Casillas was the saviour on three occasions. Now it’s time for Real Madrid to make a comeback at Highbury (the 8th of March) as the goal by Henry puts Arsenal ahead in the knockout.
