Five memorable things that have happened in football since Arsenal last made the Champions League semi-finals | OneFootball

Arsenal have made it to their first Champions League semi-final since 2009 after they beat Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate.

Despite the Spanish side being favourites going into the tie, Arsenal came through comfortably with victories in both legs.

Between the years 2000 and 2009 Arsenal got to the quarter-finals or further five times and the semi-finals or further twice, but in the 16 years since then, the Gunners have not made it past the last eight of the competition until this year.

During those 16 years a lot has happened in football, here are five of the most memorable…

Leicester City went from League One to Premier League champions

In the 2008/09 season Leicester were managed by Nigel Pearson and in League One – England’s third tier. Their top scorer was Matty Fryatt and they had not been in England’s top tier for five years.

Fast forward five years and they were in the Premier League again. Their second season back in the top tier would mark perhaps the biggest underdog story in all of football.

The Italian Claudio Ranieri would take over from Nigel Pearson and it seemed as though they could do no wrong. ‘Dilly ding dilly dong’ was the mantra as the Midlands side stormed up the table with star players such as N’Golo Kante, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez quickly becoming some of the worlds most sought after footballers.

Their captain Wes Morgan lifted the trophy at the King Power to cap an incredible season, and few years, for the Foxes.

Tottenham Hotspur reached the Champions League final

In 2009 Tottenham had never played in the Champions League, whilst Arsenal had been in the competition for 11 years in a row under Arsene Wenger.

Peter Crouch’s low header against Manchester City at the end of the 2009/10 season changed this for Spurs, as they qualified for their first ever Champions League campaign.

And then nine years later a Lucas Moura hat-trick in Amsterdam, after the north London side had seen off Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and PSV, sent Tottenham to their first ever Champions League final. They would lose out to Premier League rivals Liverpool, however.

West Ham won a European trophy

By the 2008/09 season West Ham had only every qualified for European competitions seven times in their history and had not won a European trophy in 44 years.

But in 2022/23 that would change for the Hammers. David Moyes led his team past sides such as Anderlecht, AZ Alkmaar and Gent to Prague for a final against Italian side Fiorentina.

In injury-time with the game level at 1-1, Lucas Paqueta slid a wonderful ball through to Jarrod Bowen who slotted the ball over the keeper into the net to win the Conference League.

West Ham captain Declan Rice, now part of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side, lifted the trophy.

Luton, Bournemouth and Brentford all went from League Two to the Premier League

The 2008/09 League Two table had Brentford as champions, Bournemouth in 21st position and Luton Town relegated in 24th, but since then much has changed for those three sides.

Bournemouth now sit in 8th place in the Premier League, Brentford in 11th and Luton were also in the Premier League last season before dropping down to the Championship.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have scored more than 1,500 goals combined

For the best part of three decades, Ronaldo and Messi have dominated football, winning countless individual and club honours.

And since the beginning of their careers the two forwards have looked to break every goalscoring record in their way. Between 2009/10 and now they have netted 1524 goals combined, an astounding statistic.