Co-authored by ClockEndRider & 21stCenturyGooner
A month full of travelling to far away lands culminated in what proved to be a wonderful trip in the coastal Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
After many ridiculously early starts, it was lovely to have an early afternoon flight meaning we didn’t have to leave home until gone 9AM. We made it round the M25 to Heathrow in record time, flew through security and following a fry up and a breakfast pint, it was time to get on the relatively short flight over to Portugal.
We landed around 5pm and despite the setting sun, it was still incredibly mild. More so than the UK, that’s for sure. A short metro ride took us to our hotel and after we freshened up we walked to the restaurant wearing nothing but a shirt and jeans (and shoes) and enjoyed a splendid seafood supper. If you haven’t been to Lisbon I can assure you the food is pretty damn good.
After a much-needed good night’s sleep, it was time for some sightseeing before the match. First stop, Sao Roque, a Jesuit Church situated on top of one of the many rolling hills in Lisbon. Then we hit the beach enjoying an Aperol Spritz (CER) and a Mojito (21CG). Sunbathing by the sea in late November? You can’t do that in Preston.
We enjoyed yet more exceptional seafood in the Timeout food court for lunch, where the manager of one of the outlets was happy to chat with us and offer a free lunch on Wednesday if we beat Sporting by 4 goals – he was a Benfica fan and he was winding up the chef, a Sporting fan— be careful what you wish for, sir! Then, a quick siesta to recharge our batteries for the evening ahead. After meeting a friend who had travelled out on the day of the game, we hit the town in search of the Gooner congregation.
We travelled down to the harbour area at Cais do Sodre and, on emerging from the Metro, it wasn’t difficult to find where the away fans were congregating – a narrow alleyway with a long row of bars either side. The pints flowed and the singing got louder. All hugely good humoured, as might I add, were the local police who were happy to chat.
At about 6pm, it was time to move to the stadium, a 25-minute metro ride away, then on to the stadium, which is really well designed and a damn sight easier to access than the dinosaur that is the San Siro. Once again, police and riot police were strongly evident, but this is Arsenal and there was never any threat of trouble, which may well have contributed to their general unthreatening air and pleasant demeanour – again, unlike Milan.
The game started and immediately, Sporting came at us, as you would expect. However, it only took 7 minutes for the Arsenal to hit their stride with some fantastic interplay outside the box which led to Timber, who was excellent all night, escaping down the right and hammering in a low cross for Martinelli to slide home from a matter of a few feet. Cue an explosion of noise in the away end as the pressure lifted.
The first goal seemed to shock Sporting. Arsenal proceeded to tighten their grip on the game and strangle Sporting – who had not lost a game this season, up to this point. The inevitable second came on 21 minutes and it was once again perfectly executed. Timber to Partey in midfield, who looked up and chipped a Brady-esque ball – yes, it was that good – over the Sporting defence for Saka to run onto and cross for Havertz to slot home, again from feet.
The rest of the half progressed in the same vein with Arsenal dominating the ball and hardly putting a foot wrong. And then bang on half time, Rice floated in a fabulous corner to the back post for Gabriel to arrive like a train and thump home a header. A scintillating first half drew to a close with the Sporting fans somewhat chastened and the away fans in ecstasy.
Following total away domination in the first half, Sporting came out fighting in the initial stages of the second half. Morita saw his effort well saved by Raya but from the following corner Goncalo Inacio got half a yard on Calafiori and volleyed home at the near post. Unsurprisingly this got the already raucous home crowd going again. Sporting probed but Arsenal managed the game well. Gyokeres threatened to get away from Saliba and Gabriel on a couple of occasions but the reportedly highly sought after Swede was unable to get into the game to any real extent.
Just after the hour, the pendulum swung back in our direction as Ødegaard was brought down in the box by Diomande. Saka stepped up to take the ‘pen and despite the ‘keeper guessing correctly, Saka hit it right into the side netting following a short run up. A proper penalty. Eight minutes from time we added a fifth as Merino saw his effort parried out into the vicinity of Trossard who had come on as sub and the Belgian duly nodded home inside the six-yard box.
Arsenal scored five away from home in the Champions League for the first time since 2008 and it was our biggest away win in the competition since that famous night at the San Siro in 2003. It was an unexpectedly comfortable evening, and the surroundings made it even better. Lisbon did not disappoint. Great food, great people, and even great weather.
And the football wasn’t too bad either!
So glad you had a great time chaps. You deserved it after dispiriting visits to Newcastle and Inter. A truly fantastic performance full of verve and creativity. Gyokeres was kept firmly in his box by the excellent Gabriel and big Willy, looking more Coventry City than Sporting Lisbon.
My son and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening sitting on the sofa and supping beer, after my wife had been banished upstairs to watch the Bake Off final. Two great performances in a row. Full of confidence for our (and my) visit to West Ham on Saturday.
Meanwhile City have a 3-3 draw after being 3-0 up with 15 minutes to go. Pep seems to have scratched his own face. Probably wondering if that new contract has a cool off period.
Cheers, all. Great report on an away European trip for the sges. Excellent father and son bonding done in the process sobwhat’s not to like? Certainly not the free fish supper for beating Sporting by more than four goals, I can assure youu no matter whether there was actually time for it before your flight home. 😉
Thanks fellas – nice travel log and the sort of performance to report on that we should be capable of now the squad is fit again, bar Benny of course.
Gyökeres might be tearing it up in Portugal but he’s no match for William Saliba. What a player. Brilliant defender, strong, calm, no bullshit – just does the job and quietly puts strikers from Gyökeres to that arrogant pig at Manchester City in his back pocket.
Great performance. Great result. Hopefully we’re back and firing.
Excellent description of a fun filled visit to Lisbon with a very fine summary of an entertaining game added to round things of nicely. I’m in Asia and a) kick off was 3 am local time and b) it wasn’t on the telly here anyway. I was very pleasantly surprised to find we’d won 5-1 when I woke up.
A ‘proper penalty’ indeed. Saka’s the man.
Great report chaps capturing the flavour of a European trip to a really nice city and the description of a performance that I believe no other current English side could match . So many positives . We can compete at the top level in the CL and if we play like this we can win it .
We have several really elite players ~Raya , Saliba , Gabriel , Rice , Saka and Odegaard and last night Timber and Partey were also superb .
That’s an excellent account of the trip and the match, delivered astonishingly swiftly given the amount of post-match celebratory imbibing in which you almost certainly partook. We can almost taste the sardines, vinho verde and natas! It sounds like an excellent trip not least because of the match itself, a reward that your earlier unrequited pilgrimages certainly earned.
The team were ‘at it’ from the off and, to a man, they produced at least 8/10 performances. An additional bonus was the stolid and then front foot response to the shock of the early second half goal from Sporting. A year or two ago, I think we might well have wobbled and the final result might have been very different. That’s a clear sign of the growing maturity and determination within this team. A job well done. Onward.
Cheers to the pair of ya!
Looks like you managed to combine a great food/weather/people social trip with a brilliant game and result at the football.
It’s not that common!
Safe trip back.
Of course, if it turns out that there was or will be enough time to take advantage of that free lunch offer for a 4-goal defeat of Sporting, we will all be expecting a detailed and thorough report “in the drinks” as appropriate. 😆
Thanks gents, an enjoyable read about an enjoyable trip for all concerned, 2 games, 8 goals since the international break. And a couple of home games to come in the CL as well
https://x.com/HarveyDownes92/status/1861531828336705609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1861531828336705609%7Ctwgr%5Eb2bb0ec439e43bcab5d834c5c0fc5f64e051217f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Farseblog.news%2F2024%2F11%2Fpost-sporting-quotes-round-up-arteta-pereira-saka-trincao-hjulmund-ferdinand-hargreaves-more%2F
Hope this link works, it was for the most wins in the first 100 games for an Arsenal.
William Saliba is now 4th and I wouldn’t have guessed the three in front of him
I would like to join many above in congratulating the author(s) of this fine report. I wish also to join bt8 in his cry to learn more of your free lunch – they do say, however, that there’s no such thing. Finally, thanks OM for the interesting link, which certainly worked for me. What I found most surprising is how, relatively, recent are all the leading candidates. I had convinced myself it was Premier League era-only before I came upon Pat Rice’s record of 62 wins from 100. It’s almost as though the table is PL-only, with Pat added to make it appear otherwise.
COYG
Morning All,
Many thanks for your kind words on the report 21CG and I put together. bt8, Pangloss – re lunch- unfortunately the fun and games before, during and after the game, along with the fact that we had a pre -booked lunch at a recommended restaurant precluded us from taking up the offer of a free lunch from our new found friend. I don’t doubt that he would have been true to his word though, given the way we were treated by all the Benfica fans we met post match, who seem to have a similar regard for Sporting to that which hold for the unloved, unwashed N17 hordes. Suffice to say, Benfica are now my Portuguese team
We got home around midnight last night. London is freezing. I guess we won’t be drinking cocktails in deckchairs on a warm, sunny, river beach today…..
That’s a quaint table Matt as if it’s been compiled in inverse ratio to how good they were . Those above Saliba with the exception of Nacho were bit part players .
Good stuff, CER.
Benfica was always my Portuguese football team. For no other reason that many many moons ago, I once found myself in possession of a Benfica T-shirt (long lost since). I don’t even remember who gave it to me. I have a vague recollection that it was my Dad, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense as he wasn’t particularly a football fan and I don’t remember him travelling to Portugal either. Maybe through someone he knew? Anyway, I have kept a soft spot for them ever since.
Good to hear you are safely back.
You can still put the heating on, a screensaver and enjoy that cocktail! 🙂
Sadly I can’t forgive Benfica “that game” at Highbury but good to see you’re back safe and sound gentlemen.
@13 I was surprised too TTG, I vaguely remember fearing defeat every time Djouru lined up but actually Nacho was a surprise as I don’t remember that 2015 side winning so many games!
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cje0lkk3y38o
The latest CL table, two home wins against Monaco and Zagreb will give us 16points and (according to Opta) a 98% chance of being in the Top 8.
So far I am finding the new format more interesting than the group stages, a low bar admittedly.
And to your point, Matt, there are plenty of games to come where the teams above and around us are playing one another. We have played Atalanta, Inter and Sporting away. On paper, that’s our tough games done.
Matt, I’d say it’s more interesting as you’re not sure what’s what or what is going to happen. It’s chaotic and messy. But I think losing home and away ties is kind of sad. No ‘see you in the return leg’ goodbyes between fans, etc.
I was going to say ‘and I don’t think it’s fair’, but I suppose groups also had groups of death and easy groups, so the ‘fairness’ argument is debatable anyway.
Although, when it comes to the final table and teams separated by goal difference when they haven’t played each other twice etc., the ‘fairness’ of qualification, not of the draw becomes hugely disputable again. Currently, the teams between 6th and 12th are tied on points!
Whichever way, it’s motivated by money, they’ll be happy that it appears more interesting for now.
@17 yeah, bit like our PL start now I think about it CER, hopefully the only way is up from here til May
@18 agreed Ollie, no truly fair way and it’s just about money from adding in a couple more games all round. Perhaps it’s being in Italy for a couple of months but I’m finding chaotic and messy to be more fun 😄
Haha, fair point, Matt! 🙂
I agree that the new CL format is more interesting than the old groups usually were, probably because the final outcome remains so unpredictable at this stage. We are well positioned despite our undeserved defeat against Inter. Our next game against Monaco is, on paper (yes, I know), our most difficult remaining game. If we can take three points from that then we can be confident of finishing in the top eight and avoiding the 9-24 play-off rounds as even our away trip to Girona carries no major challenge given their record in this tournament to date. With Dnamo Zagreb though I’m reminded that they were the first European opponent to beat us at TNHOF with a certain Crozilian scoring their winner. That was a cold, wet night too.
Couple of good Arsenal articles in The Athletic this morning
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5940080/2024/11/28/arsenal-london-fixtures-december-january/
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5950418/2024/11/27/arsenal-odegaard-importance-sporting-arteta/
Matt@15
When I wrote the Wenger column for the Gooner I was once particularly hard on Djourou. Arsenal lost at Fulham when Djorou was converted to full-back and then got himself sent off . ‘ Wenger’ commented ‘ I have been asked why I play Djourou at full back . We have an injury crisis. My only alternative was to deploy a traffic cone from Colney at right back. After much thought I decided to play the cone but unfortunately Vic Akers left it too close to the radiator in the dressing room and it melted . In retrospect I should still have picked the cone ! ‘
My dear Bath
I think ( without checking ) you may have misremembered . We did play Zagreb at Ashburton and it was our first European game there and Eduardo did get their goal. ( which put them ahead) But we recovered to notch our first win at TNHOF by 2-1 . I think we did lose away to them about ten years later but in Croatia .
Misremembering is a distinct possibility, TTG. I’m sure that you are entirely correct. The memory may have been misfiled under ‘first Euro game lost’ rather than ‘first Euro goal lost’ in the old memory banks.
@23 that is harsh TTG, but on who I am not sure. Djourou, AW, Vic Akers or possibly the cone 😄
Metaphor time!
https://bsky.app/profile/footballll.bsky.social/post/3lbzbkwacsk2x
A very happy Thanksgiving to all US GHFers!
Happy Thanksgiving, as C100 says
Thank you C100 @28 and CER @29. And thank you to all of the contributors to GHF who make this place a refuge of sanity (mostly) as we face challenging times.
Couple of good reads, thanks C100.
MA says we will have to wait and see if Gabriel is fit, hahaha.
I suppose the press have to ask.
Anyway, he was also nice about Sterling and said he needs to get him
more minutes.
I really think we should share this starring role here.
Drumroll…
ooooooh, nice one!
Ultras !
Not sure a picture of me will attract people to the site….!
CER. I dunno with any real certainty but think your belly could be the main attraction.
In other news, BBC pundit Chris Sutton has attempted to demonstrate his “football expert” credentials:
“”City will be wounded and angry because of what happened against Feyenoord, on top of their run of defeats,” said BBC Sport’s football expert Chris Sutton.
“But even with a point to prove, will they be able to match Liverpool’s intensity?
“It’s a big ask, from what we’ve seen. Like lots of other football fans, I thought City were a god-like team but they are mere mortals at the moment – in fact, they look very average.””
Geez, Chris. Being a football expert and all, why doncha try to tell us something we don’t already know?
On the other hand, Sutton picked Arsenal to edge West Ham in a close game so with any luck he will be right on this occasion. Unless he is wrong of course, and it turns out that we macerate them.
Looking back at that picture @34, it certainly does seem that CER and 21cg (our Portugal correspondents) agree with the Lisbon sunshine. 😎
Comparative Italian celebrity strolling pictures are available for viewing at leisure at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6986051/amp/Francis-Ford-Coppola-joins-forces-stars-Robert-Niro-Robert-Duvall-Godfather-reunion.html
CER enjoys the sun. It’s why he went to Exeter rather than Newcastle
OYou guys can be so harsh. Clearly I was burn out of time, otherwise De Niro would never have been given the Godfather 2 gig.
C100 @42 – spot on. This months visit to Newcastle was my first since my open day departmental visit in Jan 84. In 3 years at Exeter, it snowed once. And that melted the next day. Real man, me? I’m not proud…..
Born, not burn….
For balance can I point out that ;(
I was simultaneously the Chairman of a charity headquartered in Tynemouth and a NED
in a company in Exeter . I was at all board meetings come fog, hail, pestilence and Storm whatever . Not everyone can be teak tough but there are a few real men left
The youth team lost 3-0 in Lisbon and have won only one of the five games in the URFA Youth League this season . The U18s are winless since LJW left and it have not distinguished themselves in the EFL Trophy or whatever it is . Despite the emergence of Nwaneri and MLS this is not a bumper crop of young stars .
Max Doeman the 14 year old prodigy is hugely talented but was booked on Tuesday after being fouled 8 times in the first half .
It would seem very unlikely that our youngsters might lift silverware this season but it seems far more important to produce a few great players than a great team. If you look at our Youth Cup winning teams they only produced the odd first team star – Rice , Campbell , Wilshere for example rather than a class of 92 operation which is always the exception rather than the rule . We operate in uan environment where there is huge competition for young tyros . We will be much better producing a to p prospect every few years than having a dash at silverware every season
Dowman not Doeman – apologies
C100 – maybe CER got confused with St James Park football ground 🤔
good point Uply😂
Though you’d have to be smoking some primo weed to confuse Exeter and Newcastle
Smashes home for the half century
Well in at the half century CER. You may have taken pictures of yourselves in Portugal, but at least you didn’t auto-assist when the big moment arrived.
I have to confess that the Newcastle St James’s is somewhat more breathtaking, in more ways than one as C100 will attest with all those stairs, than the Exeter St James. In the mid 80s the main stand on the opposite side to the the station was called The Cowshed. And it truly resembled one.
Still, the pasties in the chip shop next to the Black Horse pub were much better than you could get in Newcastle….
Interesting combination of recent travellers (OM and CER) to Italy collaborating on that half century. Was it something in the pasta they ate?
TTG @46 – in fairness, being deprived at various stages of some of our best u19 players hasn’t helped. And as you say, the 14 year old Dowman was apparently kicked all over the place the other day with no protection. It’s almost as though I can hear bells ringing….
I’m not too clear that there is a strong correlation between success at that level and that feeding through to the first team, as so many of the players peak early and never hit the heights in the mans game. I imagine MLS and Nwaneri learned more by going with the first team.
TTG@45- I am in awe. Thankfully the country has never called on weeds like me!
TTG @45. I’m confused. You were a NED?
Isn’t that a Scottish term for a young person causing social difficulties.? How did you manage that and being a magistrate? Your worship?
C100@56 – Clearly a misspent youth on the part of TTG. We need to be told.
CER @57
Well he is from South of the river.
Is that “Any referee other than Anthony Taylor” that I have been hearing you muttering under your breath?
Anthony Taylor it is, away at West Ham. So much not worrying sbout the referee’s mext move.
Intended to mean above: “So much for not worrying about the referee’s next move.
For 90+ minutes.
A more positive spin on the game as reported on the dot.con:
“We are unbeaten in our last 13 Premier League games that have come after playing away in Europe in midweek (W10 D3), scoring 31 goals and conceding just six.”
May history repeat once more tomorrow.
21CG’s WHam preview is with the great and the good..
C100 @58 – my map just says “There be dragons” south of the river…
Have a great day at West Ham and bring back 3 points….l
>>>>>>>