LONDON — Manic on the streets of London. What had begun in a sea of red smoke ended amid the din of “super Mik Arteta” and the cry of car horns. Around every corner you turned, a gaggle of delirious Arsenal supporters intent on finding that one last pub that was somehow both open and not overflowing. Best of luck on that front, but you couldn’t blame them for trying. This was the sort of day you never wanted to end.
By the look of a few bleary faces on Wednesday morning, it might not have yet.
Twenty or so hours earlier, north London crackled with anticipation. Turn right out of the Emirates Stadium and head up the Hornsey Road, and you might find yourself in a dozen different versions of the capital at once. Except, that is, when there is a big Arsenal game to come. And they didn’t get much bigger than this. Past the cafes and bars along Stroud Green Road, you feel like you’re in an advert for Fly Emirates. Those wavy-garmed north London Gooners are out in force.
With time to kill early on Tuesday afternoon, I found myself outside Highbury, Arsenal’s previous home, a few wrong turns on the way for an overpriced sandwich bringing me to the hallowed facade of the East Stand. I’m not alone. A smattering of Atletico Madrid supporters found their way there as well, long before kickoff. Avenell Road tends to have that draw on football supporters, no matter where they are from. There is nothing quite like it. Those marble halls echo with history.
The Emirates Stadium, not quite. At least, not quite yet. Arsenal moved from the beloved ground they had outgrown to the thoroughly modern bowl that has been their home just after the last Champions League final this club played in. Moving ten minutes up the road was a prime example of the right decision at the wrong moment. The old Bank of England club added 20,000 seats in a belief that matchday revenue was the future of football. Instead, Chelsea’s new owner at the time Roman Abramovich “parked his Russian tanks on our lawn,…, firing £50 notes at us”, in the memorable words of former vice-chairman David Dein.
This new ground has had its moments — the afterglow of Wembley wins, the explosion of late winners — but nothing quite like the scene that greeted Mikel Arteta’s squad on Tuesday night. For plenty of clubs the flares, the noise, the drama is par for the course. But the Arsenal match-going crowd can be a bit different. They are creatures of habit, whether that be La Pasta for a bite to eat with the little ones or sinking pints in The Twelve Pins before dashing into the ground just in time for kick off.
“In the planning stages [for Tuesday’s pregame festivities] I was asked by the club and the police, how many do you expect?” says Raymond Herlihy of REDaction Gooners, a fan group who work to improve the supporter experience and atmosphere in the Emirates Stadium. ”And I had to say, I have no idea. And I did dig out a group chat for one of my friends at about 1:00 a.m. He said, ‘Would you get 200 people?'”
However many it was, it was plenty more than that. You could hear the congregation from the Seven Sisters Road. A little further down and the red smoke pierced the sky. Keep advancing, past the tunnel adorned with murals of the legends of Arsenal’s past and present, and you began to appreciate the scale of the crowd. When the home team coaches arrived, you could barely see them through the haze. The CBS cameras could barely keep track of Guillem Balague, dragged into the mirth.
What must it have been like for those on the bus? “We could see, we could feel the players banging on the glass on the other side,” says Herlihy. “You couldn’t see the faces, but you could see the phone lights as they were recording.”
What they saw from that bus certainly inspired Arsenal, Arteta’s side by far and away the game’s superior as they delivered a first Champions League final to their supporters in 20 years. “We felt it,” match-winner Bukayo Saka told CBS Sports. “I’ve never felt the Emirates like this in my whole career. When the game started, they pushed us from the start to the end. It was a beautiful moment. This is probably the biggest game the Emirates has ever hosted. It was a successful one. All the fans that were here will go home and remember this night forever.”
That they will. Arteta, too, after that “special and unique” welcome. The buzz carried on into the stadium. Pity the poor supporter who hoisted Gunnersaurus on his shoulders on the concourse. “Everyone understood the assignment,” says Herlihy. “Sometimes you just feel that snap and crackle.”
There were certainly nervous moments. How could there not be, given the prize on offer? Once Saka gave the Emirates something to hold onto, they never let it slip out of their grasp. For 90 minutes they urged their team on. No wonder so many were hit with a wave of emotion at the final whistle.
“The order was immediately my wife, my kids, my parents, my sister and then all the people involved at the club,” said Arteta, reflecting on what had been going through his mind when the final whistle blew. “I know what it feels like.
“You can think and say it’s going to be a beautiful night but when you actually are looking somebody in the eye and they have that expression, and you look to the supporters and they are just immensely proud and happy, that’s when our job makes sense. Many other times it’s difficult to find the right reason why we do what we do, but when these things happen, then everything that we do is worth it.”
The Arsenal players don’t need reminding that they have not won anything yet. Nor do their supporters. That there isn’t a trophy for second place is not news in this part of London. Then again, it was only five years ago that even dreaming about dreaming about whether their club might compete for these trophies was for the mad. In this season of emotional whiplash, it wasn’t so long ago that the trophies that are now in touching distance seemed to be slipping out of Arsenal’s grasp.
On Tuesday night, it felt like they really might do something remarkable. What better reason than that is there to get a bit carried away?
