The Self Preservation Society

Juventus 0 - 0 Arsenal (Agg Score 0 - 2)

Before the match, Lillian Thuram promised a hurricane from Juventus whilst Pavel Nedved was more circumspect in opining that Juve never know when to give up, despite the evidence of the first leg when they gave up as soon as Fabregas scored the opening goal. In the event, it was more of a summer breeze aside from a ten minute spell in the second half when a wee bluster started with a deflected shot from Ibrahimovic and a stinging shot from Nedved. That was to be his last contribution as yet again Juve lost their cool and he departed having earned a second yellow card for a reckless challenge on Eboue.

Juve were once again very poor. They created nothing of note in the first half and for all of their technical ability, the lack of passion shown was woeful. If it had been an English side chasing the deficit then all hell would have broken loose in pursuit of the opening goal to ease the pressure. Instead the Italians were content to pass and pass and then throw a long ball forward to Ibrahimovic who more often than not was beaten to the ball or simply in no position to collect the pass and lay the ball off. Throughout the match, it looked more a case of not if Juve would score but when Arsenal would score. In the first half, Henry and Gilberto (twice) had chances to settle the tie before the ninety minutes was up. In the second, Fabregas, Ljungberg (twice) and Hleb had more chances which following the departure of Nedved seemed to arrive every two minutes.

In the end, the defence was sturdy and in a game such as this, the infrequent nervousness shown was commendabe. On the rare occasion that he was required, Lehmann's handling was exemplary. After ten minutes, the Champions League record of Ajax for minutes between conceding goals was passed. After ninety, the eighth game without conceding surpassed Milan's landmark.

The only blackspot on the evening was Reyes yellow card that means he misses the first leg of the semi - final, the last ever European match that THOF will ever stage. Some months ago, the club website started it's top ten countdown for the final matches at Highbury, with the proviso that if the club lost to Real Madrid we were actually already in the home straight and that we were at eight games to go. Not any longer does that optimism seem over the top. So onto the Costa del Azahar for the clubs' first Semi-Final in Europe's Premier Club Competition as Villarreal beckons.

Todays Tunes in honour of the 500th unique visitor to these shores, which given I didn't expect more than three people including myself to even read, is some achievement. Thanks to those who have read and also passed comments onwards. Well except for the spammers. Here are some of my favourite tunes from the recent (and not so recent) years:

F.E.A.R. - Ian Brown (James Lavelle - Barcelona mix)

Bootsy - A Certain Ratio (The Swingfire Mix by The Other Two) - Original on CD, "Force"