Arsenal bow out, but Theo Walcott comes of age
Our hopes of an extended Champions League campaign may have been dashed last night, but the one ray of hope to emerge from the game at Anfield was the growing stature of Theo Walcott.
With six minutes left on the clock, the 19-year-old picked up the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and showed his lightning quick pace to beat four international players en route to Liverpool's penalty area, before squaring a perfectly weighted ball for Emmanuel Adebayor to slot home.
What followed a minute later with the Swedish referee's gift of a penalty to Liverpool will be talked about for a long time, but the fact that Walcott nearly won us a semi final place should not be forgotten.
Particularly impressive was the way in which he looked up not once, but twice as he shrugged off Javier Mascherano's last ditch challenge to see where his team mates were and coolly pick out Adebayor.
I've not always been a fan of Walcott, but he's proving to be a big game player and I'd be astonished if he isn't given a starting place when the Gunners travel to Old Trafford this weekend.
And with the suggestion that he will be used as an out-and-out striker next season, I'm delighted to admit I was wrong about Theo. Who knows, he might just go on to become an Arsenal legend like his hero Thierry Henry.
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