Manuel Almunia has offered new insight into Arsenal’s painful loss to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final. Arsenal, reduced to ten men after Jens Lehmann’s early red card, had taken an unexpected lead in Paris thanks to Sol Campbell, only to see their hopes dashed as Barcelona turned the match around.
Lehmann’s dismissal forced manager Arsene Wenger to bring Almunia off the bench to replace Robert Pires. Almunia recalled the tense moment, saying, “As soon as the foul was given, I stood up to get changed and take off my jacket because I knew it was going to be a red card. From then I didn’t have any time to think. I just looked next to me on the bench to Philippe Senderos and said, ‘Oh my God, here we go!’ I didn’t have time to react. I had to be ready to face Ronaldinho’s free kick as soon as I came on.”
Despite the pressure, Almunia felt confident as he made a crucial save from Samuel Eto’o before halftime. “I was reading the game very well, I anticipated some balls and got confidence. I felt really, really relaxed, no pressure and I was happy to be there,” he recalled.
However, Barcelona eventually broke through in the second half. Eto’o equalized in the 76th minute, and later, Juliano Belletti scored the winner with a shot that slipped through Almunia’s legs. Almunia attributed the decisive goal to deteriorating conditions on the pitch. “I remember the rain started to come down very heavily and my gloves were full of water, soaking… I could feel the wet pitch through my boots and the pitch started to play so fast. Their second goal was because of the water. The ball went very fast between my legs. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t and after that I was really broken.”
That night remains Arsenal’s only appearance in a Champions League final. Since then, the club has not managed to return to European football’s biggest stage despite some strong campaigns, including recent group stage wins over Atletico Madrid, Olympiacos, and Athletic Bilbao.
Almunia stayed at Arsenal until 2012, although his last season was disrupted by a loan to West Ham. After leaving North London, he spent two years at Watford, where he played a pivotal role in their 2013 promotion to the Premier League. One of his standout moments was saving Anthony Knockaert’s penalty for Leicester City in the play-off semi-final, immediately preceding Troy Deeney’s famous winning goal.
Despite his club successes, Almunia never played for the Spanish national team and was often linked with a potential switch to represent England, for which he was eligible. However, he was never selected, as Joe Hart remained England’s first-choice goalkeeper during that period.
