Seaman exclusive: Almunia needs the best game of his life for Arsenal to beat Barca

By Steve Stammers in Mirror Football Blog

Published 22:45 03/04/10

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Come the middle of next month, David Seaman will have the awesome task of scaling Mount Kilimanjaro.

Come the middle of this week, the former ­England goalkeeper will be focused on another ­mountain – the one his former club Arsenal have to climb to reach the semi-­finals of the Champions League.

And Seaman is in no doubt who will be the key man for ­Arsene Wenger’s team against Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Tuesday – Manuel Almunia.

Seaman, an Arsenal goalkeeping legend, said: “He did brilliantly at the Emirates to keep them out in that first half. Now he is going to be needed again.

“It is not enough for him just to be there and make saves when he has to.

“Almunia has to organise the back four in front of him, he has to boss them.

“There is no question that Barcelona have superb ­individual players like Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and Xavi.

“That is why Almunia and the men ­immediately in front of him will be vital.

“They have to perform well if Arsenal are to win and ­Almunia has the experience that will be needed on the night.”

It will be a testing and ­emotional return to Spain for Almunia, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday three days before the Champions League Final in May.

A win is what Arsenal will need to eliminate the holders of the trophy.

A 2-2 draw in the first leg last Wednesday means that, apart from a victory, only a ­highly improbable 3-3 draw – or a 2-2 draw to spark a penalty shoot-out – will be enough to secure a place in the last four.

Yet Seaman still believes victory against all the odds and all logic is possible.

“After all, it’s an Arsenal ­tradition.

“I am not just saying this as an Arsenal man,” said ­Seaman, who will be going to Kenya with his girlfriend Frankie Poultney to raise money for the Donna Louise Children’s Hospice.

“I have been involved in many games with Arsenal when the other team were just supposed to turn up and win. The one that comes to mind is the 1994 European Cup ­Winners’ Cup Final in ­Copenhagen against Parma.

“They had Gianfranco Zola, Tomas Brolin and Faustino Asprilla.

“Ian Wright was out ­suspended and I needed ­pain-killing injections before the game and again at ­half-time. We won 1-0 because we believed we could do it.”

Seaman also pointed to the April evening in Italy in 1995 when Arsenal won a penalty shoot-out against Sampdoria in Genoa to reach the final in their defence of the Cup ­Winners’ Cup.

Thanks to Seaman’s heroics, Arsenal went through to meet Real Zaragoza in Paris.

He recalled: “Again, we weren’t really fancied because we won 3-2 at home which meant they had two away goals. But we held on, took them to extra-time and then penalties.

“It can be done — even when everything seems stacked against you.

“There have been other ­European games I can recall when I didn’t play – like the 3-1 win in Italy against Roma when Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick. That wasn’t ­supposed to happen either!”

But Seaman ­acknowledged that while Arsenal will need a defence with nerves of steel in what can be a ­passionate and ­intimidating atmosphere in the Catalan capital, they’ll need to score.

However he is also ­convinced they have the men to trouble a re-organised Barcelona ­defence.

He said: “I know Arsenal are without important men like Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin, but ­Barca have problems as well.

“They’ll be without their two centre-backs, Gerard Pique and Carles, Puyol and that is a significant blow for them.

“And Arsenal have players who can get goals. They have proved that time and time again.

“Nicklas Bendtner [below] will be important. I know he gets criticism for the number of chances that he misses but, trust me, he is a real handful.

“There are many central ­defenders who don’t look forward to playing against him.

“And it will be interesting to see what Arsene Wenger does with Theo Walcott.

“When he came on at the Emirates, he caused Barcelona all sorts of problems. I would think there is a chance that he will start the game in ­Barcelona because it is one that Arsenal have to win.

“He might well be used right from the kick-off because of that.

“Of course the odds are in Barcelona’s favour.

“But it honestly would not surprise me if Arsenal got the result they needed. History tells you it is possible.”

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