FLASHBACK - MATCH 1191- Wednesday 17 May 2006

 SEASON 2005/06

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Venue:  STADE DE FRANCE

BARCELONA  2  ARSENAL  1

Scorers:  Eto'o, Belletti; Campbell

Arsenal in their first UEFA Champions League final suffered an early blow when their German goalkeeper Lehmann was sent off leaving them to play over 70 minutes with 10 men.  Remarkably though the 10 men took the lead before half time against the much fancied Spanish giants.

It wasn't until the latter stages of the match and the introduction of Henrik Larsson that Barcelona eventually found the goals to take the final away from Arsenal and to win their second European Champions title.

The stats from the match:

Barcelona: Valdes, Oleguer (Belletti 71), Marquez, Puyol, Van Bronckhorst, Deco, Edmilson (Iniesta 45), Van Bommel (Larsson 61), Giuly, Eto'o, Ronaldinho.

Subs Not Used: Jorquera, Motta, Xavi, Sylvinho.

Booked: Oleguer, Larsson.

Arsenal: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Pires (Almunia 20), Silva, Fabregas (Flamini 74), Hleb (Reyes 85), Ljungberg, Henry.
Subs Not Used: Bergkamp, Van Persie, Senderos, Clichy.

Sent Off: Lehmann (18).

Booked: Eboue, Henry.

Att: 79,500

Ref: Terje Hauge (Norway).

Match report: LINK

Personal note:

• The 4th time I attended a Champions League final - the 2nd involving Barcelona
• The 2nd time I attended a match in Paris

Highlights:

FLASHBACK - MATCH 1156 - 2 AUGUST 2005

 SEASON 2005/06

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Qualifying Round

CELTIC  4  ARTMEDIA BRATISLAVIA  0

Scorers: Thompson, Hartson, McManus, Beattie

Trailing by five goals after an awful first leg for Celtic and their new manager, Gordon Strachan, they come storming back in the return leg backed by their home fans. 

Celtic score their 4th goal with 8 minutes to play but unfortunatly can't find the 5th and are knocked out of Europe at the qualifying stage.

This is the first time I seen Celtic play Slovakian opposition.