“Magnificent” Jens

So says his manager Arsene Wenger after Germany’s No. 1 ‘keeper Jens Lehmann saw Arsenal through to the UEFA Champions League finals. The EPL side will face either Barcelona or AC Milan in Paris for all the silverware. Lehmann, of course, should be between the pipes when Ecuador face Germany on June 20 in the World Cup.

Lehmann’s amazing run of clean sheets in the Champions League was preserved by the thinnest of margins. At the death, Argentine international and Villareal stud Riquelme had a chance to equalize the aggregate goal total after a fairly soft penalty was awarded to the Spanish side. Undaunted, Lehmann guessed correctlyand made the stop. How he guessed correctly is an odd story in itself.

Said Lehamann:

When you are in football you can be in hell and rise to heaven just like that. A couple of days ago I said to myself ‘Riquelme will take penalties and I will go to my left because of his body-shape.’

I must suggest that from now on, Ecuador train in very baggy clothes; they just can’t take the chance that Lehmann will divine their penalty style from their body types. No word on whether Lehmann is also a phrenologist.