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Champions League final continues to heat up passions for millions of football fans all over the world. Approaching the decisive match of this season, eurofootball.com presents players who have played for both teams - "Barcelona" and "Arsenal".
Marc Overmars
"Arsenal" 1997-2000. Played 141 matches, scored 40 goals.
"Barcelona" 2000-2004. Played 70 matches, scored 9 goals.
Overmars arrived at "Highbury" in the summer of 1997 from Ajax Amsterdam. The Arsenal coach usually allowed Overmars to play on the left attacking side. In this position, the Dutchman scored two of his most important goals in his career at the "Gunners" club. In 1998, at "Old Trafford" stadium, with thousands of "Manchester United" fans watching, Overmars scored the goal that secured the title of English champions for Arsenal. His second goal came in the same year's FA Cup final.
In the summer of 2000, Overmars was transferred to Barcelona and became the most expensive Dutch footballer of all time in terms of transfer fee. Blaugrana paid Arsenal 40 million euros for the forward, making it the 13th largest transfer sum in the history of football.
Emmanuel Petit
"Arsenal" 1997-2000. Played 116 matches, scored 11 goals.
"Barcelona" 2000-2001. Played 28 matches, scored 1 goal.
Petit, who played as a left-back at Monaco, switched to Arsenal at the request of Arsene Wenger and played as a defensive midfielder. Alongside Patrick Vieira, this defensive pair was one of the best in football history at that time. It was Petit who created the memorable moment in the 1998 FA Cup final, where Overmars defeated the Newcastle goalkeeper.
In 2000, Petit was transferred to Barcelona along with Overmars.
Sylvio Mendes Campos Júnior (Sylvinho)
"Arsenal" 1999-2001. Played 79 matches, scored 5 goals.
"Barcelona" 2004 - present. Played 26 matches, scored 1 goal.
In the summer of 1999, Sylvinho arrived at Arsenal from the Brazilian club Corinthians and surprised all the fans by wanting to play on the left side of the field. However, due to an injury, he soon lost his place in the starting lineup. He was then loaned to Celta Vigo and eventually signed with Barcelona.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst
"Arsenal" 2001-2004. Played 63 matches, scored 2 goals.
"Barcelona" 2004-present. Played 50 matches, scored 4 goals.
Arriving at "Highbury" in 2001 from Glasgow Rangers, Gio hoped to replace Emmanuel Petit in the primary defensive midfield pair with Patrick Vieira at Barcelona. However, he failed to secure a spot in Arsenal's starting lineup, so in 2004 he was loaned to Barcelona, and both parties agreed to transfer rights to the Dutchman to the Catalan team.
Francesc Fabregas
"Barcelona" 2002-2003. Did not play any matches.
"Arsenal" 2003-present. Played 95 matches, scored 8 goals.
Fabregas, trained in the youth team of Barcelona, successfully climbed the career ladder just like the current Barcelona star Lionel Messi. However, seeing no opportunities to break into the first team, the young Fabregas, who was only 15 at the time, moved to North London in 2003.
In Arsenal, the Spaniard quickly became the youngest player to score a goal and last season was a regular player in the main lineup.
With Vieira's departure to Juventus, even greater opportunities opened up for the talented young player in Arsenal's squad. Now Fabregas has the opportunity to prove how wrong Barcelona was to close the door to the first team for him.
