Arsenal 1-0 Real Madrid

An Emmanuel Adebayor penalty separated the two sides in the Emirates tournament as Spanish champions Real Madrid narrowly lost out to the home side in London…

In a game not short of physical action and energy, Arsenal kept their visitors’ attacking threat to a minimum while doing enough to secure the victory at the other end.

The Gunners started brightly, giving former Liverpool stopper Jerzy Dudek much to do in the early stages: Van Persie and Diaby tested him early on, but he was the equal on each occasion.

Madrid tried to fight back but the likes of Baptista were not at the races, and the lack of an out-and-out striker for the Spanish side saw most attacking moves countered in any case.

At the other end the impressive Walcott was in the thick of it, but strangely the best of the chances fell to Madrid right at the end of the half. Raúl was put through one-on-one, but the captain sclaffed his first touch and the chance was lost.

Minutes into the second half, though, the impressive Dudek was finally beaten, albeit from the penalty spot. Salgado was the offender as Van Persie went down under a light shove, and up stepped Adebayor to convert the spot-kick with deadly accuracy.

Madrid made three changes to their side and began to look slightly more active with Sneijder and Van Nistelrooy on the pitch, but Sneijder lasted mere minutes before being withdrawn after suffering from a poor tackle from Diaby.

The game began to fade out after that, although with ten minutes to go Wilshere once again showed his worth for the Gunners by setting up a beautiful chance for his fellow substitute, Bendtner. The Dane, though, failed to find the back of the net.

With this result Hamburg won the Emirates Cup as a whole with 7 points. Madrid finished second with five, while Arsenal and Juventus both ended up with four.

ARSENAL FC 1-0 REAL MADRID CF
1-0 Adebayor 49′ (pen.)

Arsenal: Almunia; Sagna, Senderos, Gallas (Djourou 89), Clichy; Walcott (Eboué 65), Denilson, Diaby (Ramsey 75), Nasri (Wilshere 75); Adebayor (Bendtner 75), Van Persie (Vela 65).

Real Madrid: Dudek; Salgado, Javi García, Heinze, Torres; Diarrà; Callejón (Robben 55), Guti, Baptista (Sneijder 55 (Parejo 61)); Robinho (Saviola 61), Raúl (Van Nistelrooy 55).

Yellow Cards: Eboué 82 - Guti 65

Referee: Mike Clattenburg (ENG)

Ref From goal.com

New Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola admitted to having an interest in Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor, but qualified this by saying that other players have caught his eye, too. In any case, it’s up to Txiki, not Pep…

The Guardian reports that Guardiola has admitted to keeping an eye on the Arsenal forward, not to mention Didier Drogba of Chelsea.

He said, “Barcelona are always interested in good players.”

However, this is not to be taken as a cast-iron guarantee that the blaugrana are to move for the Togolese or Ivorian.

“Those players are interesting but so are many others in England, Italy and Germany,” he warned.

In any case, Pep was quick to remind the newspaper that in Barcelona, as with most continental clubs, the first team coach does not take too active a role in transfer proceedings.

“You would be better to speak to the sporting director [Txiki Begiristain] about the exact situation,” he concluded.

Barcelona have already spent in the region of €88m on transfer fees alone this summer, although the recent income of €21m-up-front from AC Milan for Ronaldinho would surely aid them in the search for a new ‘number 9.’

Sport.es contends that Dimitar Berbatov of Tottenham Hotspur could also be a target, given that “England” was cited as a source of readily avialable “interesting” players.

At present Samuel Eto’o remains the default centre-forward, although it seems more than like that he will be sold before the end of the summer. Young Bojan Krkic is not to be rushed into first team duty, while Thierry Henry’s exact position is uncertain.

Ref From Steve Michaels, Goal.com

Striker Emmanuel Adebayor appeared to send out mixed messages when he went back on an initial claim that he was staying at Arsenal.

The 24-year-old, who has been courted by AC Milan, said: “The most important thing for me is to keep on enjoying my football. I’m staying at Arsenal.”

But later he then added: “We will have to meet with the manager [Arsene Wenger] before anything can be decided.

“But, as you know better than anyone, a lot of teams want me to play for them.”

Adebayor, who scored 30 goals for Arsenal last season, has been a target for both AC Milan and Barcelona with the Italian club making it public knowledge that he is their main target this summer.

The Togo international added: “I’m just going to sit down with my agent and with my family and decide what is good for my career.”

Should talks ever take place over a move, the former Monaco forward insisted money would not be a factor.

“When I was young I had a dream to be a good footballer and play for a big team,” said Adebayor, who was in Vienna with his sponsors.

“I was born in Togo so I never cared about playing for money, my happiness was to play to enjoy myself. That’s what I’ve been doing until now.

“You can see people changing clubs because of money, because they want a change of atmosphere or to get their names in the big leagues. I just play football to enjoy myself. I play because I love it.”

One Arsenal player who has already made the move to Milan is Mathieu Flamini.

The French midfielder joined the 2007 Champions League winners this summer after his contract with the Gunners came to an end.

Arsenal boss Wenger, who has also been in Austria for Euro 2008, had wanted to keep his countryman at the Emirates Stadium, but Flamini felt it was in his best interests to leave.

Adebayor thinks that Flamini, who impressed as a holding midfielder last season, will be missed.

“He was one of Arsenal’s biggest players,” Adebayor said. “He’s a good man, a good character and a good footballer.

We play good football, now we look forward to winning trophies

“But he’s made his decision and he’s very happy to have signed for Milan. He has all the qualities to become a bigger player than he was at Arsenal.”

Still, Adebayor believes Arsenal will thrive without Flamini and hailed the team spirit in the camp.

“Everyone is between 21 and 26-years-old, we are all the same generation,” he said. “We all have the same ideas, we go out together after games to restaurants.

“We all have the same ideas and we all want to achieve something. We have a good boss which is Arsene Wenger. He tries to bring this atmosphere to the dressing room where we feel like brothers and like family.

“Those are the reasons that give us a chance to play the football we play. We play good football, now we look forward to winning trophies.”

By Phil Gordos
Ref From BBC Sport