A fans eye witness account of a night to remember at the Emirates
As I know I’m one of the lucky season ticket holders, I thought I’d try to paint the picture of what I consider one of the top ten performances I’ve seen while supporting this great club of ours from beginning to end. I hope you’ll enjoy it!! I arrived outside the ground to witness hundreds […] The post A fans eye witness account of a night to remember at the Emirates appeared first on Just Arsenal News.
RR aka Rishi-Raj
As I know I’m one of the lucky season ticket holders, I thought I’d try to paint the picture of what I consider one of the top ten performances I’ve seen while supporting this great club of ours from beginning to end. I hope you’ll enjoy it!!
I arrived outside the ground to witness hundreds of Madrid fans taking selfies next to statues of Arsène, Tony, Thierry and Dennis.
They were very friendly, singing and seemed very sure that this was a game they were going to win.
Even outside, the atmosphere was cracking and it was so tense, you could feel it!!
I got to my seat around 6.30pm and could hear the Arsenal fans singing in the concourse, while there were quite a few Madrid fans already in place.
The announcer started winding up the crowd as he explained that behind each seat was a bag (either red or white) that he wanted the fans to hold up as the players entered the field.
Before that, we were given a pyrotechnic show, accompanied by fireworks, and then North London Forever was sung – the rendition was by far the greatest one to date.
The red and white bags, scarves and singing created a cathedral of noise and I’ve never heard or seen anything like it at the Emirates!!
The Madrid fans were also swinging their scarves, but to be honest, they were drowned out by the home crowd – in fact, I would say they were probably the most disappointing away fans I’ve witnessed during a Champions League match, but, of course, they really didn’t have much to shout about!!
The first half was heart-stopping, as we could have been two goals up, but the Chelsea reject keeper made two or three outstanding saves.
The Arsenal players went in at half-time to a standing ovation and, to be honest, I forgot that the likes of Mbappé were out on the pitch, such was our dominance.
Come the second half and our players were out at least three minutes before the Madrid players emerged to a chorus of boos.
The singing started immediately and ranged from Are you Tottenham in disguise to 49, 49 and You’ve only come to watch The Arsenal and it was non-stop, loud and brilliant.
The ground was rocking but still no goals!!
Then up stepped Declan “we got him half-price” Rice and I really don’t think anyone in the ground even dreamt what would happen next, but it did and, if there was a roof at the Emirates, it would have disappeared, believe me!!
1-0 to The Arsenal was resounding around the ground, when what seemed just seconds later, Declan did it again and we were dancing in the aisles, hugging each other and in seventh heaven.
Madrid looked like a beaten team and we just kept chanting and singing and looking at the clock.
The Madrid fans thought it was all over, but then Merino, our striker, served up yet another glorious goal and signalled even more incredible celebrations.
When the final whistle went, cue the kind of celebrations I would expect if we eventually go on and win the competition, both on and off the pitch – sensational!!
Once again North London Forever was sung, as hardly any home fans had left.
As I walked along the concourse inside the ground, the singing, the high fives, the smiles, the laughter and the disbelief at what we had just witnessed was everywhere.
Walking to the station, the singing was still going on and I only wish every Arsenal fan could have been there.
I hope I’ve conveyed what it was like to those of you who read this and, no matter what happens next, last evening will remain in the memory for all time.
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