Bergkamp bows out as new Arsenal era begins
Bergkamp bows out as new Arsenal era begins
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Saturday, 22, Jul 2006 08:13
A new era was ushered in at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium as the club said a fond farewell to Dennis Bergkamp with a 2-1 win over Ajax in the Dutchman's testimonial.
On a special day for fans and players, a sell-out crowd of 60,000 in the stadium's first-ever game saw Klaas-Jan Huntelaar put Ajax, the club at which Bergkamp started his career, ahead in the first-half, before goals after the interval from Thierry Henry and Nwankwo Kanu gave Arsenal the win.
The second-half line-ups of both teams read like a who's who of recent Arsenal history, featuring cameos from returning Gunners stalwarts Ian Wright, Emmanuel Petit, Patrick Vieira, Marc Overmars, Martin Keown, Nigel Winterburn, David Seaman and Robert Pires.
Meanwhile in the Dutch camp, world legends Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard all played.
Bergkamp, 37, started the first-half alongside a host of present day youngsters at Arsenal, who were without the majority of their World Cup stars, but it was the Ajax XI that took the lead, Huntelaar latching onto Edgar Manucharyan's cross.
Ronald de Boer charitably missed a penalty after Gilles Grimandi had fouled Edgar Davids, but Henry and an effort from Kanu that deflected off Jaap Stam handed Gunners fans the send-off they wanted for Bergkamp, who scored 120 goals in 423 appearances for the north London club.
In the day's other friendlies, Mark Gonzalez and Fabio Aurelio were given their Liverpool debuts in a 1-0 win against Crewe, while Dimitar Berbatov scored a brace in a 2-0 win for Tottenham over Birmingham.