There was a distraction from the boring international games yesterday as the Arsenal Legends took on Real Madrid at the Emirates, with many old heroes on the pitch like Jens Lehmann, who played in place of David Seaman who pulled out with a calf injury, Pascal Cygan, Nigel Winterburn, Robert Pires, Davor Suker, Tomas Rosicky, Ray Parlour, Jeremie Aliadiere, Matt Upson, Gilberto Silva, Luis Boa Morte, David Hillier, Perry Groves, Anders Limpar, Stefan Schwarz, Gilles Grimandi and Chris Whyte.
Despite all that ex-talent on the field the game ended 0-0 and it came down to a penalty shoot-out where Jens Lehmann came to the fore, making the crucial save and then jumping the queue ahead of Thomas Rosicky, he took the ball and fired home the fifth and final penalty himself. He admitted that he had only ever taken one penalty before (27 years ago!) and scored that time as well.
Rosicky said jokingly: “Jens Lehmann stole it from me!
“I was alright with it, I’ve known Jens for a very long time, since Dortmund, so I was expecting something like that. He was very lucky [he scored].”
Although Rosicky was supposed to take it, Lehmanns denied it. When asked if he was supposed to take it he said: “I thought so, yes! I was one of the fitter guys so I was supposed to take one.”
So we have yet another mad moment in the history of Mad Jenns, who was removed as Arsenal coach this summer after the arrival of Unai Emery. They don’t make keepers like him any more!
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You’ve gotta love Lehmann!!
Not the worst penalty I’ve seen either Sue
Can we sign Gilberto as a free agent? 60 minutes of Gilberto is much better than 45 minutes of Xhaka! Lets keep Ozil out of discussion.
Can we sign Mad Jens? Good saves, commanded his box, great distribution and can actually play out from the back, a la rush goalie. A lot on here won’t understand the term rush goalie!
The thought of Petr Cech playing rush goalie brings me out in a cold sweat.