Arsenal 1 - 0 Villareal

Kolo Toure’s first half goal was enough to give Arsenal a 1-0 advantage in the Champions League semi-final against the “yellow submarines” of Villareal.

I spent most of my day at Highbury, arriving at 10 AM to help the “REDAction” supporters assocation place red and white cards on every seat in the North Bank lower and in the Clock End.

It took several hours, but did provide me with a chance to see a bit more of Highbury than the average fan. When I arrived, I was rushed through the main entrance - the marble halls - past the bust of Herb Chapman, and the wall signed by all of the players. I had my camera, but no time to get off a few snaps.

The first half of the day was spent in the North Bank, setting up the cards that would read “2006″, while during the afternoon, we placed “1913″ in the Clock End. It was very windy, so in the North Bank, we rolled the cards, and slipped them between the seat frames, but in the Clock End, the frames were of a different design. We were forced to tape each and every one to the seats!

When that was finally done, it was back up the Picadilly line to Rick’s for some pre-match pizza, and then back down to Highbury for the game.

As we were standing outside of The Arsenal World of Sport at Finsbury Park Station, the Sirius Radio football (soccer) talk show, “The2G’s” called me to talk about the game and the atmosphere. I spent about ten minutes on the phone with them, and I think you can really get a sense of what it was like two hours before the game. The streets teeming with Gooners, cops trying to clear the streets, vendors selling programmes. The vibe was nervous, but excited. You can hear the interview by downloading the podcast version via iTunes.

We went down to the Arsenal Tavern to have a few pints, then it was time to walk down Gillespe Road and into Highbury.

My seat for this match was in the North Bank Lower, and so I kept up my bit by singing along to “We’re the North Bank, High-bur-eee!”

The Champions League anthem began, and both the North Bank and the Clock End held up the cards as we had hoped. The Clock End’s “1913″ looked great, and I hope the North Banks “2006″ looked just as good.

Arsenal looked good right from the start, as Villareal seemed a bit nervous. The mood was considerably lightened when a squirrel made its’ way on to the pitch, running around the Arsenal goal. “Squirrel is a Gooner” and “There’s only one squirrel!” became the chant around the North Bank. It was hilarious.

In the 12th minute, Thierry Henry was through on goal, and scored what he, and in fact, the entire stadium thought was the opening goal. We were going nuts until we saw that it had been called for offside. Seeing the replay on TV, he was definitely onside, but that’s the problem with Henry - he’s so fast, he can cover three yards in a second - which is often the difference between a linesman seeing him as being on or offside.

Villareal settled into things around the 25th minute or so, but never got any decent chances. Arsenal on the other hand kept plugging away. Senderos had a header go wide, Pires with a curling shot that never quite curled enough. Chance after chance until finally, in the 41st minute, Kolo Toure latched onto an Alex Hleb cross, and smashed it into the net. One-nil to the Arsenal!

That’s how it stayed. The second half saw more of the same, as Arsenal kept getting chance after chance, but the second goal never came.

So, a slender 1-0 lead going into the second leg on Tuesday. Should make for a very nervous afternoon! Kickoff is @ 2:45 PM ET, and the match will be shown live on ESPN2.

I took some brief videos last night, you can check them out here:

View from the North Bank I

View from the North Bank II

One-nil to the Arsenal!

There’s only one squirrel!