© EuroFootball.com
On Wednesday, the last participant of the English Football Association Cup quarter-final was revealed. It was the London team "Arsenal" who, after a fierce and very dramatic battle, defeated "Bolton" as guests and ended a 3-year streak of unlucky matches at the "Reebok" stadium.
1 - 3
13‘ [0 - 1] Emmanuel Adebayor
90+2‘ [1 - 1] Abdoulaye Meite
108‘ [1 - 2] Freddie Ljungberg
120+3‘ [1 - 3] Emmanuel Adebayor
63‘ Gilberto Silva ("Arsenal"), 120‘ Julio Baptista ("Arsenal") missed a penalty kick
117‘ Tal Ben Haim ("Bolton") sent off the field
Already in the 8th minute, the Gunners' defender Tomas Rosicky was dangerously close to scoring. Soon after, Emmanuel Adebayor scored a goal from outside the penalty area.
Later, a dangerous penalty kick by Julio Baptista was blocked by Jussi Jaaskelainen, and just before the break, the home team's goalkeeper from Greece, Stelios Giannakopoulos, hit the crossbar.
In the second half, "Bolton" became more active and pushed for an equalizer, creating dangerous attacks. "Arsenal," on the other hand, responded with dangerous counter-attacks. During one of them, the Gunners earned a penalty kick when Tal Ben Haim brought down Julio Baptista inside the penalty area. However, Gilberto Silva, who took the penalty kick, missed the goal.
Inspired by this success, the home team continued to attack. But the visitors' counter-attacks were much more dangerous - in the 80th minute, Baptista was close to scoring again, and in the 85th minute, Adebayor rounded the goalkeeper and scored.
Nevertheless, just when it seemed that "Arsenal" would celebrate victory, the second minute of added time saw the home team's defender Abdoulaye Meite equalize the score. The African received a pass from Ivan Campo after a corner kick and sent the ball into the net from a few meters away.
During extra time, 'Bolton' initially felt stronger. In the 97th minute, Kevin Nolan hit the crossbar, and a few minutes later, Manuel Almunia caught a header by the goal-scorer Abdoulaye Meite.
However, in the 108th minute, "Arsenal" surged ahead: after a pass from Jeremie Aliadiere, the Swedish player Freddie Ljungberg, who had been lurking in the shadows, scored.
In the 114th minute, Nicolas Anelka had a great chance to equalize the score, but his header went just over the goal. Shortly after, Denilson almost responded with a goal from a distance.
With three minutes remaining until the end of extra time, Tal Ben Haim received a second yellow card for a rough tackle on Emmanuel Adebayor, and the home team's hopes faded away.
Meanwhile, "Arsenal" continued to have fun: J.Baptista missed another penalty kick for a foul on E.Adebayor, but the visitors (E.Adebayor) soon hit the third goal into the "Bolton" net.
In the quarter-finals this weekend, "Arsenal" will face "Blackburn."
