Barcelona vs. Arsenal

I've taken a long time to recover from the disappointment of the Champions League Final two weeks ago. However, I'm now ready to start writing again, just in time for the World Cup. I will start with my views on the final itself.

One of the beauties of football is that almost anything is possible. A whole game can turn on the smallest of things. Thierry Henry had four good chances to score in this match, and normally he would have put away at least two of them. Perhaps the pressure to succeed on the highest stage got to him. He scores hat-tricks for fun against the likes of Wigan and Aston Villa in the Premiership, but he fluffed another chance to demonstrate his greatness to the world.

Instead, the game was won by Henrik Larsson, a second-half substitute, who set up both Barcelona goals. The first one was off-side, but the assistant referee didn't see the deft touch by Larsson that set up Samuel Eto'o. (Another case for video reviews?) It was the first goal that Arsenal had conceded in almost 1,000 minutes of Champions League action. That goal gave Barcelona a lift just when they were starting to run out of ideas.

The silver lining for us was when Thierry Henry extended his Arsenal contract to 2010 a few days later. Clearly, he was still emotional following the Champions League Final defeat and, as he admitted, decided with his heart rather than with his head. I think he was also angry with the antics of some Barcelona players who kicked him relentlessly and feigned injury at every opportunity. The thought of playing in Spain week in, week out probably left him feeling cold.

Henry is such a talisman for Arsenal fans that he will guarantee sell out attendances at the new Emirates Stadium for years to come. This is probably worth more to Arsenal than the £50 million that Barcelona and Real Madrid had offered.