As you might just have heard, Osama Bin Laden is dead. The demise of the al-Qaeda leader ends a 10-year manhunt during which, bizarrely, he was outed as an Arsenal fan and, horrifically, as the mastermind of a plot to assassinate the England football team. Here we track Bin Laden's football connections.
1) When, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, reports emerged claiming Bin Laden had supported Arsenal during his time living in London in 1993-'94, Gunners officials responded by banning the terrorist leader from their ground. Said a spokeman in November 2001: "We've seen the reports in the papers. Clearly he wouldn't be welcome at Highbury in the future."
2) Bin Laden wasn’t really much of an Arsenal fan, though. According to biographer Adam Robinson, he only attended four matches while in England looking for funds to finance his operations. However, they happened to coincide with the Gunners’ run to the European Cup-Winners’ Cup final and included a 3-0 win against Standard Liege (but he really should have gone away, where Arsenal triumphed 7-0) and a 1-0 semi-final second leg win against Paris St Germain which set up the final against Parma. Other biographers insist he only attended the PSG game, in which Kevin Campbell scored.
3) Bin Laden left London shortly thereafter, ducking extradition to Saudi Arabia. However, he’s said to have been so impressed that he brought back an Ian Wright replica shirt for his son Abdullah. Robinson claims Bin Laden once told a friend he had never experienced such a passionate crowd as at Highbury, leading to questions about whether he actually went there in the first place.
www.mirrorfootball.com
HOMADIO WHAT WAS THAT !!!
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