Magical moments

A big part of my life is devoted to Arsenal, as some of you might have guessed. I've grown up with them, been ridiculed for supporting them, and learnt to treasure, though not expect, some of the greatest footballing moments/players of our time. And yes, of course, the torch will now be passed on to junior anglosaxy (hopefully).

As some of you have pointed out to me in the past few weeks and months, it hasn't been a great season for the boys from North London. The odd outstanding performance apart, this is not the Arsenal of just two years ago who were being proclaimed as the greatest side ever, especially after becoming the first team in something like 100 years to go unbeaten throughout a whole season. Those days seem a distant memory...

But then come games like the one last night. Clearly the underdog, and don't we all love an underdog, Arsenal managed to put in a performance that wiped out the growing pains of this season. Man for man, or in some cases, boy (many of this Arsenal squad are still in their teens), they managed to outhustle and outplay the galacticos of Real Madrid. In doing so, they became the first British side to ever win in Madrid. A stellar performance that had me gushing their praises all night and all morning...I'm sure G loved me last night, as he looked into his beer and reminisced about a certain team from Manchester who are, well, a shadow of the team they once were...

Never mind that Real Madrid may very well go and rip this young Arsenal team apart in the second leg. I'm a happy camper now I've seen that they actually tried damn hard to get a result. As a football fan, that's all you really ask for, isn't it? Forget about the big names, the headliners, the transfer speculation, the scandals...don't you just want to see your team give it their best shot out there on the pitch, regardless of who they're playing...?