Arsenal 2 - 1 Ajax

In a fitting tribute to an absolute legend, Arsenal bade goodbye to Dennis Bergkamp while christening their new home, the awe-inspiring Ashburton Grove.

The first half featured an Arsenal reserve side with a few starters against Ajax’s first team. Klass Jan Huntelaar scored the first goal of the game - the first at Ashburton Grove - to put Ajax up 1-0 at the half.

The second half was the much more entertaining of the two, as it was played by an all star cast of Arsenal greats from the past ten years, some who’ve retired; including Ian Wright Wright Wright, Mark Overmars, Lee Dixon, Manu Petit, Gilles Grimandi, Martin Keown and David Seaman, and some who haven’t including Paddy Vieira, Edu, Kanu and of course, Thierry Henry (who hired a private jet to fly back from his holidays in America in order to be back in time to honor Dennis). The same was true for Ajax, which included Dutch legends Marco van Basten, Danny Blind and Johann Cruijff.

Thierry Henry scored the first Arsenal goal at Ashburton Grove after about 54 minutes, and Kanu scored in the dying moments to give Arsenal the win. However, the best moment of the match was when ex-Tottenham scum Edgar Davids had nothing but goal in front of him and Gilles Grimandi karate-kicked the bastard in the back of the legs rather than let him ruin Dennis’ day.

It was also nice to see and hear the reception Paddy Vieira received. He obviously was the enemy when he came last Spring with Juventus, but at the Testimonial, he received the thank you he deserved.

The stadium looks amazing, and from all accounts, will prove to be an incredible place to watch football:

I can’t wait to make the trip.

Finally, what more can be said about Dennis that hasn’t already been said. He’s one of my all-time favorites. I’ve replayed his amazing goal against Newcastle in my mind a million times. I’ll never tire of watching it:

Bergkamp scored 121 goals for Arsenal in 424 appearances, and set up a further 166 goals in his Arsenal career.

He will be missed.