The Woes of a Red Card - Arsenal 0-2 Bayern

Article by e-Arsenal Correspondent Timothy Nolan

Follow e-Arsenal on Twitter!

It’s Tuesday. There I was, enjoying the City-Barça game as a complete neutral, albeit I always love to see Cesc play well, wrapped in a blanket and sipping on tea. I chuckled to myself, “predictable…” as Demichelis, a man whose Champions League days seemed to be well over, threw in his last-ditch tackle. The ref pulled out an unsurprising red, stabbing City with the three-pronged dagger of -1 man, +1 penalty, +1 suspension. “How cruel,” I thought to myself, “Barça’s got this now.”


Photo copyright Stuart McFarlane Arsenal FC


Fast forward 24-hours. I was no longer a neutral, but garnering layers upon layers of my Arsenal red. I had decided to watch the match at my local pro-football Pizza place with my best friend. The card display…my god…can we make that a thing? It gave me chills before kickoff.

I was on Cloud 9 for maybe about ten or twelve minutes. “CAN YOU BELIEVE WE’RE PLAYING LIKE THIS AGAINST THE BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD??” I was ecstatic, and was shaking with elation. When Özil won the penalty with that beautiful little flick away from the defender, I think that everyone within a 50-foot radius stopped to stare at me.

Just a few moments later, and my excitement had left as if someone had taken a knife and stabbed a balloon. Özil’s lifelong pal Neuer was always going to save that, which is simply unfortunate. Alas, the match goes on, it’s not as if Özil missed the penalty on purpose.

You could just feel how deflated the entire Emirates crowd was after it, though. I felt the momentum shift. Bayern knew they had to pick things up, and swiftly did just that. We had maybe one more 5 minute burst of life, with the Ox, Santi, and young blood Yaya Sanogo looking lively.

Gibbs is down; by gosh please don’t be serious. Oh no, Nacho is going to have to come on. He was looking absolutely stunning on that left flank.

Then, even more tragedy struck. I saw Robben perform his trademark dive, the one he had been practicing in the Emirates rehabilitation pools before the match, and witnessed the ball dribble out. “Oh dear, corner,” I muttered. I refreshed my Twitter feed, and looked up to see the man in yellow brandishing a red card. At who?? Szczesny??

I wasn’t even mad; mad doesn’t even come close to pinpointing the emotions coursing through me at this point. I’m bewildered, stunned. This hit me harder than going 4-0 down at Anfield after 20 minutes. I blinked. Was this really happening? Not Woj…

I wanted to vomit as I watched the replay. That has to be one of the softest reds I’ve ever seen. Was there contact? Maybe a bit, I’d say a yellow’s worth at most. Plus, the ball was headed away from goal…why must you hurt me so, referee?

Poor little Santi looked absolutely gutted to be coming off. Ten men, against Bayern Munich, the best club in the world…*gulp*. Lukasz Fabianski on, he played a stunning match at the Allianz Arena last year. “Let’s get out of this with a scoreless draw,” I said to myself.

“Penalty off the post! Yes, boys! Let’s rally around this!”

Alas, for the remaining 55 minutes of the match, we looked like a team playing a man-down against the world’s best. Toni’s strike wasn’t being saved by the best keeper in the world, and Müller’s was simply inevitable, quite like Barça’s second against City.

The bottom line? Gibbs’ injury, Mesut’s miss, and primarily the sending-off put the game in the hands of Bayern. We played the first 35 minutes 50/50 with the best club in the world, and that in and of itself shows just how far we’ve come in one short year. Even though the result looks similar, Bayern absolutely walked us off the pitch in 2013.

That three-pronged dagger that hit both City and Arsenal (but who really cares about Demichelis, banter!) is another blow, which shows itself over the whole tie. In my opinion, it’s either a penalty, or a red. I know they’ve gone hand-in-hand for so long, but it’s just so hard on the team that commits the penalty. We have no Wojiech for the second leg, which would be a lot more concerning if Fabianski weren’t so good. I know that rules are rules, but this one should seriously be considered by UEFA and FIFA.

But watch out, Bayern, we’re not going down in the Allianz Arena with out a total fight.

© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football