19/03/2003 23:23
A night to go down in history. The evening of St. Joseph 2003 will be
remembered as the night in which a great Valencia, adored by the supporters
and led by a star player called John Carew, set light and burnt the
aspirations of Arsenal as if it were a "Falla" at Mestalla and qualified for
the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions' League as group leader. The match
was played in the second group stage but it had the feeling of a Champions'
League final with all the ingredients. A wild atmosphere, two brilliant teams
with their minds set on winning and great players putting on a show on the
field of play. An already legendary Valencia upstaged their rivals and once
more won over the hearts of their public with their courage and the
effectiveness of their main weapons. Although it would be unjust to mention
one name after a match in which all the Valencian players were worthy of note
but our fans, and certainly not Arsenal, will forget the great performance by
John CAREW. The Norwegian forward has matured in the team overcoming his
critics and tonight his two goals have given Valencia classification to the
quarter finals and he has written his name in gold letters in the history
books of the club.
Although the Greek referee officially started the match at 20:45, the game
started much before then. The firecrackers close to Mestalla and the
excitement of the fans almost drunk on the atmosphere of the "Fallas" and the
feeling that this was the moment of truth gave a tremendous build-up to the
match prior to Arsenal putting the ball into play. In fact, Wenger’s men
made it quite clear they had not come to Mestalla to speculate. With Vieira
as the director of the orchestra and Henry as the dagger the English team
converted the first piece of play in a scoring opportunity. Valencia's nerves
were put to the test with up to three chances for Arsenal in the first ten
minutes. During this initial onslaught John Carew, who was to be the main
protagonist later, stood out. The Norwegian was brought down in the area
(min. 9) but the referee was not up to giving away a penalty so early in the
game. The most important thing is that after fifteen minutes of oppression
Valencia CF started to free themselves of the visiting team's control and Aimar
started to channel our teams offensive moves. Carew followed two long balls
and put the wind up Taylor who got nervous every time he saw him come running
face on. Both teams were enthusiastically looking to score. Valencia came
close when Aimar opened up an attack, Rufete centred and Carew narrowly
missed finishing it off (min. 24). Arsenal came even closer with a header by
Campbell that was cleared on the goal line first by Vicente and then by the
post (min. 28). But goals are not scored by coming close, you have to put
them away and that is just what John Carew did in the 33rd minute. He launched
himself after a perfect pass by Aimar and he struck a fierce shot which got
by Taylor and the crowd at Mestalla were delirious. GOAL!!!! John was pushing
Valencia towards the quarter finals and left the English team stunned. There
were more scoring opportunities before the end of the first half.
However, we were up against the English champion, one of the great teams of
Europe, and they were not prepared to give up a place in the next round of
the Champions' League without a fight. In the second half Vieira passed to
Henry who left Ayala behind with a burst of speed and he put the ball away
right next to the base of the post out of Canizares' reach. The equaliser was
scored in the 48th minute. It was a hard blow for Valencia but they have
unstoppable drive and despite the equaliser they went all out for the match.
Their enthusiasm was infectious and the crowd soon picked up on it. In the
55th minute Vicente gave a warning with a pass to Carew and Taylor did a
sterling job to clear it for a corner. It was a premonition of the definitive
goal which was scored in the 56th minute and which, once more drove the stands
wild. Again Vicente passed the ball into the area and Carew connected with
the ball in the most improbable way but the English goalie was not able to
get to it. It was 2-1 and the definitive score for this epic match. The last
half an hour was a mere formality. Valencia put in a sound performance, they
understood that possession of the ball was the key to avoiding any reprisals
by Henry. It was at this stage of the match that Aimar's quality came to the
forefront. He was fouled against many times by the opposing midfield who
could not stop him and the determination of Albelda who got his foot to the
ball to the point of exhaustion. Vicente, Rufete, Ayala, Pellegrino... the
whole team put their shoulder to the grindstone to maintain the advantage on
the scoreboard. An unbeatable result that was not in doubt even when an
injured Canizares was substituted by Palop. He received a kick in the face by
Ljunberg in a desperate attempt to put a ball away from inside the area.
The last agonising five minutes drew to a close with the final whistle and
Valencia's European aspirations were unleashed. They had come out victorious
of a sudden death match having put in a splendid performance clearly
demonstrating they are 100% behind this season's main objective: to triumph
in the UEFA Champions' League. They can come up against Real Madrid, Juventus
or Cuper's Inter in the quarter finals. Who is next?
圖片
進場的時候
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/20_vlc_arsenal_salida_equipos.jpg
卡大個射門瞬間
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/14_vlc_arsenal_carew4.jpg
卡大個進球後的怒吼
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/15_vlc_arsenal_carew5.jpg
Aimar的帶球突破
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/02_vlc_arsenal_aimar.jpg
Albelda中場拼搶
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/03_vlc_arsenal_albelda.jpg
比賽的英雄卡大個接受歡呼
http://213.162.200.230/images/noticias/18_vlc_arsenal_carew8.jpg
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