Chapter 52: The Great War Begins

And this Arsenal home game against Dortmund is also an opportunity for Wenger to watch the performance of Dortmund twin stars Gotze and Guan Peng up close.

Arsenal now has plenty of financial resources to complete Wenger's recruitment, and once Wenger, an honest professor, goes crazy, maybe they will really buy the Dortmund twins!

The first leg between the two sides ended in a 1-1 draw, with Arsenal having won five in a row in the league and Borussia Dortmund beating Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, so it can be said that both teams are in good form at the moment.

As long as Arsene Wenger's side take all three points in this game, they will definitely qualify early. And if Arsenal draw with Borussia Dortmund and Marseille do not lose to Olympiacos, the Gunners could also qualify early.

This is the second time Guan Peng has challenged a giant in his life, and the giants he has challenged before are Bayern Munich, this time it is Arsenal, I have to say that Arsenal's Emirates Stadium can be described as extremely luxurious, it seems that Wenger really saved a lot of money!

The Emirates Stadium is full of modern facilities, and despite being one of the most recognisable courses in the world, Arsenal are aware that they have to have a bigger and better stadium to compete with Europe's elite clubs.

It was head coach Arsène who first proposed the construction of the new stadium? Arsene Wenger, he said: "I don't remember exactly when I made a proposal to the board to build the stadium, probably after we won the Double in 1998, although I was very involved in it, I am not a director, so I am only involved as an adviser, I am just the manager of the team and I have a responsibility to contribute to the growth of the club and it is important for the club to have a vision. ”

Due to a lack of funds, the club announced that the completion of the new stadium would be postponed from 2005 to 2006, which led to a lot of speculation and even rumours that the team would use Highbury to share a stadium with Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsene Wenger refuted this claim, saying: "We will look at different proposals, but all the while we were focused on the new build, we were also looking at rebuilding Highbury Field, but that would only add 7,000 seats, and trust us, we have thought a lot about it and have found that building in Ashburton Grove is the most suitable." Arsene Wenger added: "This is the most important decision in Arsenal history since Chapman was brought in in 1925. ”

Arsenal signed a £100 million (HK$1.39 billion) sponsorship deal with Emirates, and the new stadium will be named Emirates Stadium from the 2006 season. The naming rights are under contract for a period of 15 years, and Emirates will replace O2 as the main shirt sponsor of Arsenal for a period of eight years, starting from the first season of the new stadium (2006/07).

THE DESIGN OF THE PITCH WAS CARRIED OUT BY HOKSPORT, WHO PREVIOUSLY DESIGNED THE AUSTRALIAN STADIUM IN SYDNEY AND WEMBLEY STADIUM. Once the stadium opens, an average of 1.14 million people are expected to attend a game in person a season (compared to an average of more than 720,000 at Highbury per season).

There are also 150 VIP rooms (53 in Highbury) and 250 wheelchair seats for people with disabilities.

However, the new stadium will not be able to be expanded, and the stadium will not have a retractable roof like the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. There are also 41 camera positions and 215 press seats in the stadium.

The new site offers a unique blend of business and comfort, suitable not only for sports competitions, but also for conferences, exhibitions and other events more broadly.

The huge impact of the Emirates Stadium is evident, with Arsenal's matchday revenue growing from £37.4 million at Highbury to £90 million now (almost £1 million more per game than before), and that's not including other commercial income.

In addition, the conversion of Highbury Stadium into residential housing earned £157 million in 2011 alone. The economic success allowed Arsenal to be able to repay their bank loans in 2010 and emerge as the club with the best economic foundation in Europe. UEFA has praised Arsenal as a model of a club that adheres to a 'financial fair play policy' that all other clubs deserve.

It can be said that it is precisely because of Arsene Wenger's proposal to build a new stadium that will put Arsenal on the road to giants, and it can be said that Wenger is really the man who revitalizes Arsenal, and every player is eager to play in this world-class stadium, which will be a wonderful thing.

At 03:45 Beijing time on November 24 (19:45 local time in London on the 23rd), Arsenal's home match against Dortmund officially began.

After the start of the game, Arsenal's home radio broadcast the starting line-ups of both sides at this time, and on the other side, China Central Sports Television also released a combination of Zhan Jun and Duan Xuan to explain the game.

"Hello Zhan Jun, we can see that Dortmund's visit to the Emirates Stadium to challenge Arsenal is undoubtedly extremely eye-catching, come to Zhan Jun, you can introduce the fans to today's starting lineups of both sides!"

"Okay Duan Xuan, we can see that the Arsenal side is in a 433 formation, goalkeeper Szczesny, defenders are Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos, midfielders are Alexander Song, Arteta, Ramsey, forwards are Walcott, Van Persie, Gervinho"

"Dortmund is still the familiar 4231 formation, goalkeeper Weidenfeller, defenders Schmelzer, Hummels, Santana, Piszczek, midfielders Bender, Kyle, Guan Peng, forwards Gotze, Grosskloitz, Lewandowski"

The two sides can be said to be the main force, Arsenal is trying to qualify early, Dortmund wants to draw and get the chance to qualify, so this game is destined to be very exciting, the on-the-spot command of the managers of both sides is also very interesting, both managers are extremely good at developing young players, and both are vigorously promoting young players.