MOVE over Jens Lehmann. There’s a new hero in town.
Emmanuel Adebayor will never be as fondly regarded by Arsenal fans as former idols like Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp or Ian Wright.
But even if the Togo target man never kicks another ball in anger for the club, at least he is now guaranteed a special place in Gunners folklore.
For Adebayor’s stunning 66th-minute scissor kick was every bit as dramatic as Lehmann’s famous last-minute penalty save here in El Madrigal three years ago.
The German keeper’s unforgettable contribution was enough to take Arsenal to their first and, so far, only Champions League final.
But Adebayor’s memorable leveller could prove every bit as important in Arsene Wenger’s mission to conquer Europe.
When Wenger declared his team were “super outsiders” to win the Champions League we all thought it was just kidology.
But for an hour in Spain last night his youngsters threatened to live up to all their manager’s expectations as they were stretched to their limits by Villarreal.
The final scoreline might not reflect the full extent of Villarreal’s superiority.
Wenger, though, will be under no illusions about the need for a huge improvement in the second leg at the Emirates next Wednesday.
For there is still plenty of hard work to be done to finish off the Spaniards, particularly after Manuel Almunia and William Gallas suffered injuries which will rule them out of the return game.
Marcos Senna’s cracking 10th-minute opener was scant reward for Villarreal’s first-half dominance and Arsenal encountered further problems with those early injuries.
Nevertheless, Adebayor’s priceless strike on a night of surprises means Arsenal are now in firm control of this tie.
The first shock came with the news Arsenal old boy Robert Pires was only on the bench for Villarreal.
Pires had claimed on the eve of this game that being hauled off by Wenger after just 18 minutes of the Champions League final against Barcelona was the worst moment of his career.
Maybe failing to make the starting line-up last night was the second worst.
Yet the Frenchman’s absence did not inhibit Villarreal and they were unfortunate not to force a fourth-minute goal when Gael Clichy cleared off the line from Joan Capdevila.
But the Spaniards did not have to wait long for their breakthrough as Arsenal stood off and allowed their opponents far too much time and space to play.
Such generosity was to prove costly when Senna took possession from Giuseppe Rossi’s pass to thrash an unstoppable right-footer past Almunia from 25 yards.
Wenger had singled out the veteran Spanish ace as Villarreal’s “special player” in the build-up to this quarter-final first leg.
Yet even he could never have expected the holding midfield player, 32, to prove quite so special around the penalty area.
Senna’s strike was only the start of Wenger’s problems, as Almunia was forced out of the action by an ankle injury.
Arsenal’s Spanish keeper had been feeling the effect of two hefty early challenges from Rossi and Gonzalo Rodriguez and lasted just 28 minutes before being replaced by Lukasz Fabianski.
And the young Pole was forced into immediate action to make a vital double save from Senna and then Capdevila.
Arsenal were now in danger of being completely overrun as Alex Song was booked for tripping Rossi right on the edge of the penalty area.
The real damage, however, was suffered by Gallas, who injured the medial ligament of his right knee as Rossi fell into him.
The French star could miss the remainder of the season.
There was now a look of real desperation about Arsenal’s play and their frustration intensified when Cesc Fabregas had the ball in the net just before the interval.
His quickly-taken free-kick caught the Villarreal defence napping but was too rapid for ref Tom Henning, who was still counting out 10 yards and had not blown his whistle.
To add insult to injury for Fabregas, his impudence was punished by a yellow card.
Arsenal were virtually non-existent as an attacking force in spite of Wenger’s adventurous line-up and were lucky to still be in contention as half-time arrived.
Yet it was just when they were staring down the barrel of a beating that the famous fighting spirit which saw them through by the skin of their teeth against Roma kicked in.
They emerged for the second half with a steely determination to stop the rot and a renewed sense of purpose.
And their reward finally arrived in the 66th minute when Fabregas’ 40-yard pass picked out Adebayor just inside the Villarreal area.
The big striker brought the ball down on his chest and, with his back to goal, hooked his volley beyond keeper Lopez.
It was only three days earlier Adebayor had celebrated his return from a 10-match hamstring injury with two goals against Manchester City.
Yet this one was something else entirely. If he ever scores a better goal, just make sure you are there to witness it.
He said: “I don’t even know how I scored — but the most important thing is that the ball went in the back of the net!
“The most important thing is to play and do something good here and I think we have done that quite well.
“It was quite difficult for us because we played against a team that play good football.
“The injuries did not help us. It was tough but we counter-attacked in the second half and it worked well. Even though the second leg will be tough we are playing at home so we will do everything to go through.”
