Thanks to my awesome cousins Elise and Shalom Cohen, I was able to watch the most important match in professional soccer, the UEFA Champions Leauge Final. I was especially excited this year because my childhood favorites, the Arsenal Gunners would be taking on Ronaldinho and Co. of Barcelona. The match was incredible as both teams rose to the occasion and put on a dazzling show of skill. The first half was truly crazy as Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann was ejected for an apparent foul on Eto'o. Yet amazingly the Gunners pulled ahead off of a free kick goal from Sol Campbell. In the end, fate frowned upon my Gunners as Barcelona came back from behind to win with two late goals. Although things didn't turn out as I'd hoped, the match did leave me with many indelible memories.
In the heat of the match there was an image that epitomized the game for me. This brief moment occured as Ronaldinho was attempting to weave his way through Arsenal's defence. After evading two tackles he was abruptly stopped by none other than Thierry Henry. The imposing Frenchman stood on the ball and looked down at Ronaldinho whose sliding effort had landed him on his knees staring upwards. The split second exchange between these incredible athletes conveyed an enourmous amount of mutual respect and admiration. Sadly, after searching through thousands of photos from the game I could not find a single image of this moment.
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