I can safely say that it was the best central display since the days of Vieira and Petit.

Wow, what on earth am I supposed to say to that? I have so much to say that I just do not know how to get it out of my head and onto paper computer.

Firstly, congratulations to the one and only Arsene Wenger, his boys were under massive pressure after two mediocre performances in the Premier League and it would have been down to him to tell each and every player how good they are and make them believe that we can go to Milan and simply outplay them on their own pitch. It is clear that Wenger has done his job right and now the players must be so high right now. In normal circumstances confidence is something that takes a while to build up but a game and performance like this will allow the players to leap frog the usual steps of self belief.

Picking out individuals in a game like that could well be unfair as it was a fantastic team performance but I wouldn’t feel right not mentioning the immense display from Mathieu Flamini (Just writing that made the hairs on my back stand up) I cannot count the amount of times I shouted “WELL IN FLAM!” or “WELL PLAYED FLAMINI” during the match. He bossed the game from the first minute to the last. Flamini covered the most amount of ground out of the 22 players on the pitch. Kaka had a handful of touches of the ball and that was largely down to the Frenchman. Cesc Fabregas also had a wonderful defensive display and they both mopped up superbly when we were not in possession.

Do you remember a 2-2 draw against Chelsea at Highbury a few years back now? We had injuries to Gilberto and Vieira and it was up to the 17 year old Fabregas and the 19 year old Flamini to battle against the experienced Chelsea midfield. I thought to myself that they did a good job that day and wondered what they would be like as a future partnership, of course you can never properly envisage what it would be like until it happens and I can safely say that it was the best central display since the days of Vieira and Petit.

I don’t really want to add anything negative to this post because a display like that does not deserve criticism but I was thinking about it during the match. We basically did not have very much in the way of goalscoring threat during the game. Adebayor ran his socks off upfront on his own and I remember he got into a great position on the right of the penalty area when he dummied a defender and I was waiting for someone to support him but I couldn’t see any support arriving.

“Where was the support?!!!” I shouted at my mate who I was watching the game with. He asked me who I would of liked to have been in that position and I looked around the pitch. Hleb? Eboue? Diaby? Fabregas isn’t quick enough to get that far forward in that short time. So I was wondering where the goal would come from because Adebayor was finding it hard leading the line, running the channels and linking up the midfield as well as getting in goalscoring positions.

At half time I wondered if we would have a fairy tell ending with Van Persie coming off the bench to grab the winner but in the end we didn’t need to make the change because we were in control of the game. We were defending as a team and attacking as a team so maybe Arsene did not want to change the side.

Looking from the television the Milan pitch looked massive, it looked huge. I haven’t checked out the pitch dimensions but it looked at least as big as the Emirates. Milan could not get close to our midfield because of the spaces around the pitch. Hleb, Cesc and Adebayor were linking up expertly.

Do not forget the way that Manchester United were torn to shreds last season, yes this Milan team are not inform and are not having a great season but most of last seasons players are still there and they still posses world player of the year Kaka who was kept firmly in Flamini’s pocket.

I still cannot believe that Cesc Fabregas’ strike went in. Time seem to stand still after his shot went past the keeper, I wasn’t sure where the ball ended up until I saw Cesc real away with his arms outstretched. You could see the emotion on his face, he knew he had put Arsenal through. All the adrenaline, frustration and pride came out with that strike.

I was so pleased for Theo Walcott who replaced Eboue on 70 ish minutes. Walcott made an instant impact. You can see that his confidence is back up again now. He had so much space on the right wing and you cannot give someone like Walcott space in behind you because he will destroy 99% of players for pace. The second goal was all about Walcott. His first touch to flick the ball around Kaladze was simply sublime and he had the vision to play the ball across the box to Adebayor who was unmarked at the far post.

I just hope that the players can continue to work for victories against other teams in the same way that they did against Milan. The performance levels against Aston Villa compared to Milan was so vast. The other end of the spectrum. We need to play against Wigan as if they are Ac Milan. It doesn’t matter who the opposition is.

So who next? Who would you like to be drawn against?

I think we can outpass any club in Europe on a straight out and out football match so bring on Barcelona I say. I want the boys to get revenge.

Adebayor is full of confidence and says that we can beat anyone in the world.

Adebayor declared: “A couple of weeks ago people were saying ‘Arsenal are not going to win the [Premier League] title, they will also be out of the Champions League’. Now all of us in the squad have the confidence back because this means we can beat every single team in the world.”

He is not wrong. Kaka admitted that the better team won on the day.

“Arsenal played really well, better than us,” he said. “We have struggled up front and we have not been good enough to get a better result.

Arsene Wenger was full of pride when talking about the club.

Wenger said: “I said we could win it before now.

We would have beaten them on Friday as well. Infact we could have beaten them every day of the week playing that way. Milan had no answer, they haven’t faced that kind of football in their league.

Check out Squid Boy’s Match Review for a great read.

I am off to smile to myself and enjoy being a Gooner! Until tomorrow.

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