Top row, left to right: Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann, Gilberto Silva,
Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Robert Pires.
Bottom row, left to right: Aliaksandr Hleb, Cesc Fàbregas,
Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole.
May 17, 2006: North London soccer team Arsenal FC reach the UEFA Champions League Final for the first time, at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.
The fact that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger got a team with Emmanuel Eboué at right back, Aliaksandr Hleb at left midfield, and the weak-minded (and not yet 19-year-old) Cesc Fàbregas in central midfield into the Final shows that he was a better manager than Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp could ever be.
FC Barcelona were managed by Frank Rijkaard, who had won the Champions League, then known as the European Cup, as a player with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, and with Ajax Amsterdam after the tournament's name change in 1995.
This team was absolutely loaded, with the great Brazilian forward Ronaldinho; Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto'o, rising Spanish stars Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Swedish star Henrik Larsson; and national Captains Carles Puyol of Spain, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Mark van Bommel of the Netherlands, and Rafael Márquez of Mexico.
(Lionel Messi had already made his debut for Barcelona, but was not listed as a starter or a substitute for this game. Former star and future manager Josep "Pep" Guardiola was wrapping up his playing career elsewhere.)
When Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off with a straight red card in the 18th minute by referee Terje Hauge -- dubiously, if not incorrectly -- and Wenger had to send in backup goalie Manuel Almunia, later so bad he was nicknamed "The Clown" by his own team's fans -- he had to take off an attacking player to meet the down-to-10-men requirement, and he chose Robert Pires. A massive mistake.
But not as big a mistake as sending Lehmann off in the first place. He brought down a charging Eto'o, and then Ludovic Giuly tapped the ball into the net. It could have been 1-0 Barça. Except the linesman had his flag raised, meaning Eto'o was offside. Therefore, Lehmann bringing him down should have been canceled out, and Hauge awarded Barça a free kick. This was the correct ruling.
But then, Puyol and van Bommel got in Hauge's face, and Edmilson started waving an imaginary red card. Thus intimidated, instead of giving each of the three of them yellow cards for dissent, Hauge gave Lehmann the straight red, reducing Arsenal to 10 men.
Arsenal actually went 1-0 up in the 37th minute, thanks to a header by Sol Campbell. And they held that 1-0 lead into the 76th minute. There were 14 minutes, plus stoppage time, left. And then...
Well, you didn't expect FC Barcelona, one of the dirtiest sports teams on the planet, to let that pass without cheating, did you? Eto'o's equalizer was clearly offside, but Hauge gave the goal. And then, in the 80th minute, Juliano Belletti put Barça up, 2-1. That was the final score.
Juliano Belletti
Thierry Henry, who captained Arsenal in the game, and picked the worst possible time to have a bad game, said afterward, "I don't know if the referee was wearing a Barcelona shirt. If he didn't want us to win, he should have said so from the off.
This turned out to be the last game for Arsenal for Pires, Campbell, the tapped-up Ashley Cole, and the retiring Dennis Bergkamp. And it was the beginning of the end at Arsenal for Henry. He did win a Champions League title... with Barcelona in 2009. By that point, Guardiola was managing them to tainted glory, and Messi was, along with Cristiano Ronaldo of arch-rival Real Madrid, being called the best player in the world.
I hadn't yet become an Arsenal fan. Which is a good thing. This game, known to Arsenal fans as "Heartbreak In Paris," the closest they have ever come to winning the Champions League, came just 6 days after my grandmother's death. I did not need this added to the list of things on my mind.
Arsenal would also be knocked out of the CL by Barcelona, albeit in earlier rounds, in 2010 and 2011, the latter being one of the most dubious games in team history, worthy of its own post, which I have written. Arsenal reached the Semifinals in 2009, but were knocked out by Manchester United.
UPDATE: In 2025, knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain, who went on to win the Final.
*
May 17, 2006 was a Wednesday. American football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs that day. The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons, 86-84 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan. LeBron James scored 32 points. And the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks, 98-97 at the SBC Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio. Tim Duncan scored 36 points.
There was 1 game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: The Edmonton Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks, 2-0 at Rexall Place, as the Northlands Coliseum was then known.
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Chien-Ming Wang was the winning pitcher. Derek Jeter went 2-for-4.
* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 at the new 3rd edition of Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Mark Mulder came within 2 outs of a 4-hit shutout, and former Met starter Jason Isringhausen, now the Cards' closer, had to finish it for him. Steve Trachsel took the loss, as the Cards only got 4 hits themselves, and Mulder, who spent most of his career in the American League with the designated hitter, got 2 of them. The only run came in the 6th inning, when Scott Rolen hit a sacrifice fly to score Albert Pujols.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Camden Yards. David Ortiz hit a steroid-aided home run.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Florida Marlins, 6-4 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta. The Marlins scored a run in the top of the 11th inning, but Chipper Jones hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 11th to win it.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-3 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-0 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland. Jake Westbrook pitched a 5-hit shutout.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-0 at Comerica Park in Detroit. Justin Verlander pitched 8 innings of 6-hit shutout ball, and Todd Jones completed the 7-hit shutout.
* The Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals, 5-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Sean Marshall pitched 6 innings, and the bullpen finished the shutout. The Nats only got 1 hit, a single by Alfonso Soriano in the 6th.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 8-7 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 10-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston. Barry Bonds did not play.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies, 3-2 at Coors Field in Denver.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 14-10 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 3-0 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. Casey Jansen pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and B.J. Ryan completed the 2-hit shutout.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the McAfee Coliseum).
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