Mission accomplished! Victorious at San Siro!!!

...continued from last post

The pitch, with the Champions League canvas in the centre, was pristine. I had an aerial view of the pitch below, it was so breathtaking! From where I was seated, I could hear both sides' supporter belting out their cheers. The Milan fans always whistled when the Gooners did their songs, which I think was not very kind.


The teams were introduced, with the home team getting the loudest cheers naturally. At the first kick off whistle, many in the crowd threw shimmering confetti into the air!

Many in the crowd had brought food in, and smokers smoked openly in their seats. I had to clap along politely many times, as I was seated in the Milan section. My colleague and I spoke in hushed tones, mainly in Hokkien, trying our best not to give my allegiance away.

The pitch was slippery, as I saw many of the players lose their footing. The flow was good, with both teams sticking to playing actual football, and short of a few theatrics here and there, it was champagne football between 2 technical teams.

Arsenal had a few good chances in the 1st half, and I had to curse silently in my dialect, covering my mouth with my hands feigning relief for the Milan side.

When Walcott came on for Eboue, I was sure a goal was coming! Arsenal didn't disappoint, and I had to bend over and bite my tongue when Fabregas scored on the 84th minute! That was all it took to empty the Milan stands to 2/3 of capacity, as disenchanted fans couldn't imagine how AC Milan was gonna score 2 goals in 5 minutes.

I was most impressed when Walcott decided to chase the ball in injury time to cross for Adebayor to score the sucker punch 2nd goal. Those who remained in the stand stood up and applauded Arsenal this time!!

Very gracious fans they have in Milan.

Final whistle blew, and everyone gave a standing ovation to the victors, perhaps admitting that their beloved AC Milan are not the same Champions of last season.

We lingered on for a while longer to see the replays on the jumbo screen.

After that it was a 1 hour trek back to our hotel.

I met some away fans in the same lift, and they joked that since all the rooms in the hotel are soundproof, we can let loose and scream our heads off!

AC Milan 0 Arsenal 2

I'm never good with match reports. You can go to SgGooner's, Siren's and Steve-O's for hot-blooded recounts of the match.

We're on our way...
We're on our way...