bookd.
Penguin Gooner
Who the hell do you think you are? I am!
Napoli0 - 1Arsenal
Arsenal
Sunderland0 - 2Arsenal
Arsenal
Ipswich2 - 4Arsenal
Arsenal
Brighton3 - 0Arsenal
Brighton
Italy3 - 1Türkiye
The first half, notably Calafiori-less, was mainly boring and uneventful, only slightly improved by an improvised Scamacca opener. However, although I lost the first 10 minutes of the second half to take a leak and stock up on beer, the break and the introduction of our one and only true messiah Riccardo Calafiori allowed the match to flourish and reach its full potential. With the marauding left back often occupying the number 10 role behind the striker, Italy found a new streak of life and a couple of goals to match this renewed energy. One could easily nod in agreement to the "Calafiori fenomeno" placard present on the media reel of this here social media post. I got to watch the match amongst some of Bologna's first team players (Zortea, Amondarain and Skorupski were all right next to me and I also got to catch a glimpse of Raffaele Palladino, Giorgio Chiellini and Gianluca Pagliuca) which improved my already great experience at the Dall'Ara, as they had provided a much wider and sought after arrangement of food compared to last time I came. This was hands down the best experience I've ever had at a football match and that was in no small part thanks to the man whose name was on my shirt for the evening — Riccardo "Il Calcio" Calafiori. I am now officially a Calafiorisexual.
Italy
France4 - 6England
EnglandFrance4 - 6EnglandEngland
Norway1 - 2England
England
Argentina3 - 2Cape Verde Islands
Cape Verde Islands
Mexico2 - 3EnglandEnglandArgentina2 - 0Austria
ArgentinaNorway3 - 2Senegal
Norway
Ecuador0 - 0Curaçao
One of the more enjoyable scoreless draws I've seen in a while
Curaçao
Arsenal1 - 0Burnley
Such is the life of an Arsenal fan right now that even just the prospect of conceding possession (48-52 second half vs 72-28 first half) was enough to make the Emirates crowd and I squeeze our collective sphincters. No shots on target conceded and just 7 touches in our box should've felt like a walk in the park but the ghosts of seasons past still loom large – so close from being exorcised, yet not quite shed. Burnley were rough, stubborn and incredibly disciplined but never looked likely to convert that into a credible opportunity on the counter. Viceversa, we had tons of possession for large spells but could never quite find the right final ball. It speaks volumes that my MOTM after 45' was Ødegaard, usually the hallmark of a dominant creative display, but I ended up falling back on Mr. Reliable Declan Rice – 5 (!) tackles, 7 recoveries, 7/7 duels won... It wasn't pretty, it wasn't praiseworthy, but it did the job. Arteta's passion and relief at the final whistle was all of us.
Arsenal
Italy2 - 1Albania
Italy
Chelsea0 - 1Man City
Caught the second half. After an apparently dull first 45, Chelsea grew into the game and almost looked like clinching it before an elegant Semenyo flick decided it 20 minutes from time. He probably wasn't the best player on the pitch, but that moment of magic was a thing of beauty. Overall it was a lot more back and forth than I predicted, which made for a decent watch.
Man City
Celtic3 - 1Heart Of Midlothian
The first half had a nervous quality to it, despite having all the goals in the encounter going into the last 5'. Celtic were the only ones to shake it off in the second half, though, with subs changing the course of this one: Hearts suffered two crucial injuries in quick succession to unnerve their defensive stability, whereas Celtic turned up the heat with a dead-on double substitution (Saracchi and Osmand on for Trusty and Tierney). I'm not too sure where the confusion surrounding Maeda's winner came from, especially in commentary, as Osmand was absolutely miles onside and Maeda came back quite clearly onside just in time for the tap-in in the second phase. Hard to pick a MOTM, as both teams played their hearts out for the full 90, but I'll give it to Osmand for his tangible contribution off the bench in both Celtic winners. A quick shout-out to the crowd that created an immense atmosphere to the point where it felt almost like a CL match.
Celtic
Barcelona2 - 0Real Madrid
Not a classic for the ages, with a wiltering second half and just 18 shots overall, but nonetheless interesting to watch Real's long balls, switches and individual dribbling up against Barcelona's intense high-line, ball-to-ground, vertical system play. But it was when Real played high themselves and Barcelona went direct in behind with through balls into the space that the first half came to life. The visitors tried to be brave in possession but were often caught out with individual errors and punished in transition, whereas they couldn't pounce on the few chances they forged for themselves. It was ultimately a worldie free kick and some good lineup play for the second that sealed it. The Blaugrana closed out the second 45, with their opponents managing just two harmless shots after the break. Given the scoreline, it surprisingly always felt more likely that Barcelona would extend their lead rather than the other way around. Without Courtois it could've been more than just 2-0.
West Ham0 - 1ArsenalCommentator Jim Proudfoot accurately described this as "a game of moments rather than genuine quality". Most of the match came and went like a blur, but we came out the gates with the promise of a good match, with a suffocating Arsenal start miraculously not resulting in an early lead. The White injury changed the mood after half an hour, with Arteta opting to shift Rice over to RB to cover for him. All credit to him for quickly identifying and rectifying this mistake, first by subbing on Mosquera at RB, then by bringing on Ødegaard and Havertz, most notoriously subbing off previously subbed-on Zubimendi. The creative malaise slowly dissipated as our captain raised the standards in the press and assisted our much needed opener, amidst a couple of dangerous West Ham chances either side of half time. Inevitably the discourse will concentrate on the disallowed goal in stoppage time but ultimately there should be no controversy: it's an obvious foul and the correct decision was reached.
Arsenal
Crystal Palace2 - 1Shakhtar Donetsk
Hot Potato Derby. Shakhtar had mostly sterile possession and attempted to apply the pressure when possible, whereas Crystal Palace sat back, absorbed the blows and countered lethally in typical Glasner style. A similar tale to the first leg, where both sides seemed more comfortable being the counter-aggressor than the dominator. Eguinaldo's stand-still banger briefly excited the visitors but Sarr's exquisitely finished vertical transition took the life out of the Ukrainians, as the game quietly petered out from then. You could only imagine Palace would now be odds on favourites to win the whole thing with three English sides in as many European finals.
Crystal Palace
Netherlands0 - 1Spain
Watched this one a big projector on the side of a family friend's house. Good times.
SpainArsenal4 - 1Tottenham
Arsenal
Real Madrid1 - 2Arsenal
Arsenal
Arsenal6 - 0Ludogorets
Arsenal
PSV Eindhoven1 - 7ArsenalArsenalArsenal5 - 1Man CityArsenal