Deserved or lucky losers or: Why would you start a blog like this now?

Hi there anyone that seems to care,

it seems an odd day to start. Some of you may know that I follow Hannover and Arsenal (hence the blog name) and tonight it's only around an hour ago, since Hannover lost in the Europa League.

So why start now?

First of all, I had the idea in my mind for some weeks, and now, a lost game and a few ciders later, I came to the conclusion that it was about time to share my thoughts about the two teams I love. I'll explain why those teams exactly later, but for now, it is really just a way to tell people how I feel and what I think about the two teams I support and love.

Now to the game. It wasn't a great night for Hannover supporters. First of all, Liege/Lüttich did all they could to prevent as many Hannover fans to come to Belgium. Whereas in Copenhagen you could see more than 10,000 Reds fans in the stands, in Liege it was very few of us. I think we were around 3,000 supporters around, but that was combined with a draconian treatment by the police. No scarves, let alone jerseys, were allowed to be shown in the Liege city centre, attendance was only permitted in the away section of the stadium, nowhere else. (I guess the poor guys are still out there waiting to be let out.)

During the game, Hannover was always the underdog. Liege told us a lesson, being more comfortable and creative with the ball, with the occasional luck you need. Tchite scored the first after a billard defense of a corner, leaving Zieler with no chance at all. In the second half, some striker finished of a nice counter attack to make it 2-0 and put the game beyond our reach.

I don't complain really, as it wasn't really unfortunate. We weren't up for the occasion, Schlaudraff missed a one on one (under pressure, I admit), and some shots from distance by Pinto didn't really struggle the keeper.

So because FC Kopenhagen only drew 1-1 in Poltava we are already through to the knock out stages (best of 32) before the last matchday. Which means a) we can celebrate during the last match at home against Poltava, and b) we can be drawn either against a group leader of the Europa League or a 3rd placed team of the Champions League. Whoever it will be, it will certainly be a tough challenge.
But whatever there is to say about tonight's performance, we achieved exactly what we wanted. When we were drawn against Sevilla in the play-off, only few people gave us a chance. We defied the odds. When we were drawn into this group, many people said that Liege and Kopenhagen were too far ahead of us. And here we are, left one of those teams clearly behind us.
Whatever there awaits in the next round, we can handle it.

Before I close this first post, a few words for Arsenal. Their performance last night was really good. They stood up to the challenges and nearly got rewarded. In the end, it was a matter of individual class and Aguero was able to deliver. Tough luck, but tonight Palace won against ManUnited, so we can be very proud of our youngsters and fringe players to put in such a performance against the billionaires from the north.

Anyway, I shall end the post here. I hope you like what you read. Let me know either via the comments or tweet me @Ansgarius_90.
Cheers, and bye bye.