#FlashbackFriday: Barcelona vs Arsenal (2005-06 UEFA Champions League Final)

Every Friday, Top Corner takes a walk down memory lane and features some of the greatest personalities/ moments in footballing history. It’s our tribute to the legendary players and events that shaped the history of the ‘beautiful game’.

Barcelona have dominated the Champions League in the last decade, winning the competition more times than any other club. It all started on this fateful night in Paris in the summer of 2006, when they overcame Arsenal in one of the most exciting Champions League finals in recent times. The London club had reached the final for the first time, but suffered an early setback when Jens Lehmann became the only goalkeeper to be sent of in a Champions League final for bringing down Samuel Eto’o, who was through on goal. Having played much of the game with 10 men, Arsenal took a first half lead through Sol Campbell’s header from a Thierry Henry free kick.

With all eyes on Ronaldinho, the back-to-back Ballon D’or winner at the time, Arsenal managed to stifle most of the Blaugrana’s attacks despite being a man down. It was the unlikely figure of substitute Henrik Larsson that turned the game around for Barça, who seemed to have run out of ideas before he was brought on. The crafty Swede provided the assists for Eto’o, and fellow substitute Juliano Belletti in the 76^th and 80^th minutes respectively.

After the game, Henry summed up Larsson’s contribution quite perfectly when he said, “People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto’o, Giuly and everything, but I didn’t see them today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto’o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight.”

Thus ended the Catalans’ 14-year wait for a taste of European glory, which marked the beginning of the continental supremacy we have come to expect from them. Here are the highlights from a game that was characterized by drama, emotion and some sublime football.