Before seeing again after 2006
© Imago
On Tuesday, FC Arsenal and Real Madrid meet in the Champions League- for the first time since 2006. In general, it has only been the second opportunity since the back and forth in the round of 16 at the time that did not end for the Spaniards. Arsenal’s triumph was historical in many ways. We look back on the encounters a little more than 19 years ago with some of the decisive protagonists of the Gunners, including Thierry Henry and Jens Lehmann. In defense, the Londoners had to improvise vigorously.
On March 8, 2006, Arsenal submitted a 0-0 in the home stadium against the royal, after winning 1-0 in the first leg on February 21st in Madrid. Henry got the winning goal and thus the first success of an English team in a competitive game in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium against Real. Nottingham Forest won the royal class final in the traditional arena in 1980-but against HSV (1-0). After Arsenal 2006, only three other victories followed by English teams, Liverpool 2009 (1: 0), Manchester City 2020 (2: 1) and Chelsea 2022 (3: 2 NV; on Real Madrid’s complete balance against English clubs).
Lehmann also provided a small historical marginal note in the Arsenal box with its white vest both in the back and in the second leg in 2006. To date, FC Arsenal did not concede a single goal against Real. In the Champions League, the Gunners are one of only two teams, against which Real could not score a goal in the premier class. The Losc Lille had to survive only one game in the reformed system.
A parallel to 2006 should worry about the fans of the Gunners before the matches on Tuesday and next week on Wednesday: As then, there are injury problems. At least the failure of central defender Gabriel weighs heavily. But in 2006 the Gunners already demonstrated that a rookie defense can also be successful. At that time, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Laurén and Gaël Clichy were missing due to injury. Emmanuel Eboué played the back to the right, midfielder Mathieu Flamini had to help out on the left. The central defense formed Kolo Touré, who was elected man of the game in the second game, and Philippe Senderos. Together, the two came to a market value of 12 million euros, almost 6 million less than Sergio Ramos at Real alone.
It is all the more remarkable that the zero in the end was twice. Despite legendary names such as Ronaldo, Raúl, David Beckham or Zinédine Zidane, Lehmann was able to keep his box clean. He reached the final with Arsenal that year and flew against Barcelona with red. Arsenal lost 1: 2 and has not come back into the final since then.