About 60,000 fans turned up to watch Arsenal play Malaysia at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday – 12 years since they were last here.
The fans, mostly clad in the Gunners’ famous red-and-white jerseys, thronged the stadium as early as from 4pm for the 8.45pm match.
So passionate were these die-hard fans that they were willing to brave the notorious rush-hour traffic to make their way to the stadium.
And they came prepared – armed with scarves, posters, placards and emblems of their favourite English Premier League team.
Some even had their faces painted in their team’s colours.
Some fans even had posters appealing for star players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri not to quit the team.
Fabregas is rumoured to be keen on a move to Spanish giants Barcelona while Nasri is reported to be courted by Chelsea and Manchester City.
Fabregas, however, is not here with the Arsenal team for their tour of Asia.
But it wasn’t all about the Gunners.
The Malaysian team had their own band of fans too.
And local jazz queen Datuk Sheila Majid, clad in a Malaysian team jersey, was among the many high-profile fans spotted at the stadium.
The noise in the stadium went up a notch when the national team took to the pitch for their warm-up session. But the mostly pro-Arsenal crowd reserved their loudest cheer for the visitors when they came out to limber up.
The noise in the stadium reached a crescendo when the starting 11 from both sides marched onto the pitch for the kick-off.
A familiar figure by the touchline was Malaysia’s head coach Datuk K. Rajagopal in his now trademark lucky white shirt.
Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his team’s side as the Gunners romped to a 4-0 win with goals by Aaron Ramsey (5th minute, pen), Theo Walcott (37th), Carlos Vela (53rd) and Tomas Rosicky (90th).
The last time Arsenal played here, in 1999, they beat the Malaysian team 2-0.
Now, it will be Liverpool fans’ turn to paint the town Red come Saturday.
The fans, mostly clad in the Gunners’ famous red-and-white jerseys, thronged the stadium as early as from 4pm for the 8.45pm match.
So passionate were these die-hard fans that they were willing to brave the notorious rush-hour traffic to make their way to the stadium.
And they came prepared – armed with scarves, posters, placards and emblems of their favourite English Premier League team.
Some even had their faces painted in their team’s colours.
Some fans even had posters appealing for star players Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri not to quit the team.
Fabregas is rumoured to be keen on a move to Spanish giants Barcelona while Nasri is reported to be courted by Chelsea and Manchester City.
Fabregas, however, is not here with the Arsenal team for their tour of Asia.
But it wasn’t all about the Gunners.
The Malaysian team had their own band of fans too.
And local jazz queen Datuk Sheila Majid, clad in a Malaysian team jersey, was among the many high-profile fans spotted at the stadium.
The noise in the stadium went up a notch when the national team took to the pitch for their warm-up session. But the mostly pro-Arsenal crowd reserved their loudest cheer for the visitors when they came out to limber up.
The noise in the stadium reached a crescendo when the starting 11 from both sides marched onto the pitch for the kick-off.
A familiar figure by the touchline was Malaysia’s head coach Datuk K. Rajagopal in his now trademark lucky white shirt.
Unfortunately for him, luck was not on his team’s side as the Gunners romped to a 4-0 win with goals by Aaron Ramsey (5th minute, pen), Theo Walcott (37th), Carlos Vela (53rd) and Tomas Rosicky (90th).
The last time Arsenal played here, in 1999, they beat the Malaysian team 2-0.
Now, it will be Liverpool fans’ turn to paint the town Red come Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment