European Finals

Wednesday draws closer, and Arsenals whole season hinges on one game.
For many of you, victory in a European final is something you haven't experienced. For the older ones, 2 glories are mixed in with 4 defeats.

1970 Fairs Cup Final
The forerunner to the Europa League, Arsenal faced Anderlecht in a two legged final. Arsenal were 3-0 down with 10 minutes of the first leg left to play. However, a Ray Kennedy goal gave us hope for the second leg.
Back in London, Arsenal got an early goal to reduce the deficit to one. The equaliser was a long time coming - John Radford finally putting us level on 75 minutes. Parity was very short lived, within a minute Jon Sammels netted our 3rd on the night to put us 4-3 up. No more goals meant Arsenal had won our first European trophy.

1980 Cup Winners Cup Final
10 years after our debut European win, we gave ourselves hope of a second European trophy. Alas, it was not to be. A 0-0 over 120 minutes led to a penalty shoot-out against Valencia.
The great Mario Kempes actually missed the first penalty, but our advantage was short lived as Liam Brady missed our first. 9 successful penalties followed, before Graham Rix had to score. He didn't. Valencia won.

1994 Cup Winners Cup Final
Star striker, Ian Wright, suspended. John Jensen - the home hero for the hosts Copenhagen - among the injured. Parma, the holders and big favourites, sporting a front line of Brolin, Asprilla and Zola.
This was not meant to be for Arsenal. Yet an excellent defensive display from the famous back 5, Ian Selley and Steve Morrow digging in alongside the aged Paul Davis in a midfield, Kevin Campbell and Paul Merson putting in a shift out wide.
Then we have Alan Smith - the match winner. His stunning 20th minute volley won the game for Arsenal, giving us our 2nd European trophy.

1995 Cup Winners Cup Final
We reached the final again the following season, this time going in as favourites. Like Parma we couldn't defend the title.
This final came at the end of a very disruptive season. George Graham got sacked half way through, and Stewart Houston was in charge. Paul Merson played, despite missing part of the season after revealing his drink, drug and gambling addictions.
Martin Keown played in midfield, while Andy Linaghan partnered Tony Adams. John Hartson was up front.
After a goaless hour, Zaragoza opened the scoring. Hartson levelled 10 minutes later and the tie headed to extra time. As everybody accepted a penalty shoot-out was inevitable, ex Spurs player Nayim punted the ball goalwards in the 120th minute. Not quite from the halfway line as legend tells it, his 35 yard hit and hope caught David Seaman out and Zaragoza won the cup.

2000 UEFA Cup Final
Arsene Wengers first European competition final at Arsenal. We had, of course, started in the Champions League but dropped into the UEFA Cup. Our opponents, Galatasaray, followed the same route.
While we fielded the likes of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars, Galatasaray had Romanian superstar Gheorge Hagi supporting Turkish star Hakan Suker. Goals were expected - Arsenal had scored 21 goals in 4 two legged ties while Gala had hit 15.
But with Seaman and Brazilian legend Taffarel keeping goal, it was not to be.
The match ended 0-0, but Arsenal got a massive advantage in extra time when Hagi was sent off. But we failed to capitalise, and we went to penalties.
The shoot out was a disaster for us. Davor Suker missed our first, Patrick Vieira the third (Ray Parlour netted his in between) - and Gala scored all 4 to win the game. And once again it was a former Spurs player, Popescu, who netted the winning goal.

2006 Champions League Final
The one we all remember. Lehmanns red card. Sols goal. Henrys misses. Almunia.


Hopefully it is number 3 on Wednesday.