{"id":10384,"date":"2024-11-27T10:07:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T10:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10384"},"modified":"2024-11-30T09:33:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-30T09:33:39","slug":"a-great-night-in-a-great-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10384","title":{"rendered":"A Great Night In A Great City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Co-authored by ClockEndRider & 21stCenturyGooner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A month full of travelling to far away lands culminated in what proved to be a wonderful trip in the coastal Portuguese capital, Lisbon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After many ridiculously early starts, it was lovely to have an early afternoon flight meaning we didn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We landed around 5pm and despite the setting sun, it was still incredibly mild. More so than the UK, that\u2019s 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\u2019t been to Lisbon I can assure you the food is pretty damn good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a much-needed good night\u2019s 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\u2019t do that in Preston. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013 he was a Benfica fan and he was winding up the chef, a Sporting fan\u2014 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We travelled down to the harbour area at Cais do Sodre and, on emerging from the Metro, it wasn\u2019t difficult to find where the away fans were congregating \u2013 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2013 again, unlike Milan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first goal seemed to shock Sporting. Arsenal proceeded to tighten their grip on the game and strangle Sporting \u2013 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 \u2013 yes, it was that good – over the Sporting defence for Saka to run onto and cross for Havertz to slot home, again from feet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just after the hour, the pendulum swung back in our direction as \u00d8degaard was brought down in the box by Diomande. Saka stepped up to take the \u2018pen and despite the \u2018keeper 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the football wasn\u2019t too bad either!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019t have to leave home until gone 9AM. We made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10389,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10384\/revisions\/10389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}