Juventus 0 Arsenal 0:A gleaming new reputation is always erected on the rubble of former grandeur. Arsenal have reached a semi-final with Villarreal by demolishing the pride of Juventus.
The Italian champions were made to seem superannuated and the attempt to claw back a 2-0 deficit was never undertaken in earnest.
They could not even maintain a full complement of players since Pavel Nedved was sent off with a second booking for his bad tackle on Emmanuel Eboue in the 77th minute.
It hardly mattered. By then, the one save of real note by Jens Lehmann had come from a Nedved drive after 70 minutes. Arsenal were fresher and glowed with confidence. If Thierry Henry had provided sharper finishing the visitors would have beaten Juventus. They do look capable of winning the tournament, particularly because of the cool temperament they showed in what could have been a nerve-jangling encounter.
Despite the comfort found in the statistics showing that there have only been three occasions in the 14-year history of the Champions League that a side has held a two-goal lead from the first leg and still been eliminated, the level of stress was bound to be high for Arsenal. They would have been painfully aware that an opener for Juventus would bring an unpleasant element of intrigue to the tie. It had not been lost on Arsene Wenger that his team had to be stocked with as much energy as possible. So it was that Freddie Ljungberg, free of injury, came into the line-up at the expense of the veteran Robert Pires.
Juventus, in their schemings, had pictured an onslaught from the start but the initial impression was that Arsenal would not let that sort of pressure develop. The precocity of the 18-year-old Cesc Fabregas was inflicted on Fabio Capello's team at Highbury last week and the Spaniard had his heart set on proving in the Stadio delle Alpi that he was also capable of a preternatural consistency.
Perhaps Juventus had comforted themselves on the way back from London with the thought that a youngster cannot maintain such a standard, but in the second minute they flinched at his poise. In the centre of his own half, he had no compunction about turning away from the advancing Emerson and proceeding on his way. The teenager had even more than that in mind.
He had retained the taste for adventure shown in the home leg and sent Eboue on to a promising overlap with a well-crafted pass to the right-back after eight minutes. Arsenal were in a phase where the match seemed like pleasure. After Fabregas, with 20 minutes gone, had steered a ball through the middle to Henry, the Arsenal captain escaped Gianluca Zambrotta with a smooth turn and forced Gianluigi Buffon to save a low shot.
It was an episode that could have made Juventus's defence hanker after Lilian Thuram. The Frenchman, expected to captain the side, was merely on the bench, with rumours of an injury circulating inside the stadium. Juventus, despite being nine points clear in the defence of the Serie A title, did not give the impression that they could be the masters last night.
Zambrotta had put a bouncing 30-yarder wide and the dynamic right-back would later reach the byline to hit the low cross that needed sure handling from Lehmann. By and large, however, refereeing decisions stood as good a chance of raising the volume in the home support as anything the Juventus players did.
They had more than that to make them roar in the 36th minute. Alexander Hleb released Eboue beyond the Juventus back four but the Ivorian, sprinting towards the six-yard box, neither stroked a cut-back nor produced a proper shot. Juventus escaped with a corner, but the referee Herbert Fandel cautioned Jose Antonio Reyes for being slow to take it.
It ensured Reyes would miss the semi-final first leg with Villarreal. But the German referee was capable of clemency. Mathieu Flamini, cautioned earlier, could have been dismissed with another when he caught Pavel Nedved with an arm just before the break but Fandel merely gave a free-kick.
The occasion was, from a Premiership perspective, similar to the quarter-final in this stadium a year ago. Then Juventus had drawn 0-0 and Liverpool proceeded to win the tournament.
The second half of this game did not introduce an immediate change of tone. The athletic Eboue made one excellent interception and then, in the 48th minute, Henry had the chance to put Arsenal in front.
Hleb sent him sprinting on the right and he got beyond the full-back Giorgio Chiellini, but the striker then overran the ball so that Buffon was able to save at his feet.
That was exasperating for Wenger and the Arsenal side but disappointments of that sort were easy to absorb, especially when they could all enjoy what must have been the melodious sound of the home crowd jeering their team.
JUVENTUS: Buffon, Zambrotta, Kovac, Cannavaro, Chiellini (Balzaretti 66), Mutu (Zalayeta 61), Emerson, Giannichedda, Nedved, Trezeguet, Ibrahimovic. Subs not used: Abbiati, Pessotto, Blasi, Thuram, Olivera. Sent off: Nedved (77). Booked: Chiellini, Nedved.
ARSENAL: Lehmann, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Hleb (Diaby 87), Ljungberg, Silva, Fabregas, Reyes (Pires 62), Henry. Subs not used: Almunia, Van Persie, Song Billong, Campbell, Walcott. Booked: Flamini, Reyes.
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
