How many of Arsenal's current players get into 2006 CL final team

How many of Arsenal's current players get into 2006 CL final team

By Matt Wright
Following last weekend’s developments, Arsenal are favourites to claim the fourth Champions League spot this season and earn a place in European football’s premier competition for the first time since 2016.
Taking part in that tournament used to be a given for Gunners fans, who had the privilege of witnessing their team participate for 19 consecutive seasons, following 1997/98’s double-winning campaign.
Unfortunately, however, none of those ended with any of Arsene Wenger, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira or Thierry Henry lifting the trophy over their heads.
The closest this came to happening – and my goodness it was close – was in 2006 when two late goals allowed Barcelona to defeat 10-man Arsenal at the Stade de France in the final.
It was a painful end to a fantastic run that saw the Gunners knock out Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal on their way to Paris.
So, without wanting to count our chickens before they’ve hatched, this is a still a season where it finally feels like we are witnessing progress on the field, following years of stagnation.

Who makes the cut? 

There are some talented players starting to blossom under Mikel Arteta, but which of the current crop would force their way into the class of 2006?
Obviously, there are some players in that team who are bulletproof – with all respect to Alex Lacazette, he’s not displacing Henry – while a lot of Arteta’s squad are still at an early stage of their development
With that being said, Bukayo Saka is one who would be a shoo-in.
Saka has been in sensational form this season – his performance in last Sunday’s 3-2 win at Watford was just the latest in a series of stellar displays – and even at 20 years of age, is the first name on Arteta’s team sheet.
The way he has been performing, he would easily find a place in the 2006 side, possibly at the expense of Aleksander Hleb, the Belarussian who spent three seasons under Wenger from 2005 until 2008.
Out of the rest, you could make a good case for Aaron Ramsdale, who has been a revelation in goal since his arrival from Sheffield United last summer.
This would be harsh on Jens Lehmann, though, as the German produced some of his best displays in an Arsenal shirt during the run to final, in which he was cruelly sent off after just 18 minutes.
He was also responsible for arguably the best moment of that run: him saving Juan Roman Riquelme’s last-minute penalty in the second leg of the semi-final against Villarreal.
Kieran Tierney comes close to making the grade, but he’s up against Ashley Cole; not the most popular figure among Gooners to this day, but he was a world-class left-back, a level Tierney hasn’t reached just yet.
Emile Smith Rowe comes into the category of ‘let’s give it a couple of years’.
He’s another youngster to have excelled this season, but it’s hard to make a case for him being ahead of any of Cesc Fabregas, Gilberto Silva and Robert Pires at the moment – the same can be said for Martin Odegaard over Freddie Ljungberg.
In reality, it’s too soon to really say how far this Arsenal team can go, but at least the Gunners finally have a side that looks like it’s going places.
Photo Credit: Getty Images 

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