Well Arsenal ended their unbeaten run of 28 games in all competition in Spain tonight, losing 3-1 to Sevilla. The referee was not great, and gave a free-kick to them that was never a free-kick, and which also resulted in the second goal. Even worse than the referee though, was Philippe Senderos, who single-handedly tried to hand Sevilla the match with clearances and decision of such severe incompetence that he almost made one long for Alex Song. Almost as bad, was Fredi Kanoute, whose finishing was just god-awful. He should have at least scored a brace, if not a hat-trick, and the scoreline really should have been 4-1 or 5-1 to Sevilla.

I suppose there are some "positives" to take from the game, for both sets of fans.

For Sevilla - well they will have restored some pride, and can look forward to being the group winners. They avenged their 3-0 loss in London, and looked once again like the team that was so sensational last season, and are continuing to come out of the shadows of the sad death of Antonio Puerta, and the sudden departure of coach Juande Ramos to Tottenham. Luis Fabiano continued his good form, and Jesus Navas was especially mesmerising towards the latter stages of the game.

And for the Arsenal? Well this was as good a game to lose as any. They've lost in a somewhat meaningless game to one of Europe's best teams. They've lost badly, and it's broken their unbeaten run, but it's without detriment to their progress into the next phase in the Champions League, and it would have had far worse effects in the league. Let's face it - they would have lost sooner or later, and it's better that it happened now so that they can address their shortcomings, rather than later, because there won't be a game this unimportant for a while.

Also, let's also take into account the fact that they played with three second choice defenders - Hoyte was average, Senderos awful, and Traore lost (but promising), and three second choice midfielders - Denilson was OK but ineffective, Gilberto was OK but made scary errors, and Eboue was exciting but wildly wasteful. And upfront, they were missing first choices Adebayor and Van Persie, with Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo making their first starts in this competition. Eduardo was somewhat wasted out on the left, but did well for his goal, which was set up by the young Dane Bendtner.

So a side shorn of their top scoring strikers (Ade and RvP), captain (Gallas), most influential ball winner (Flamini) and most influential attacking midfielder (Hleb) lost to a full-strength Sevilla side.

It's not the end of the world. 

Julio Baptista arrived at Arsenal in the summer of 2006 - a year too late, but still able to excite the fans. Along with the signing of Gallas, he helped to snowball the fans' expectations to gargantuan proportions that would quickly dissipate into disappointment. Gallas was mostly injured and under-par, and Baptista was an almighty, almighty flop.

He arrived with this tag and reputation of being "The Beast" - a goal-scoring powerhouse that could barge past anyone and thump in the goals. Well. He wasn't.

Apart from one storming performance against Liverpool where he scored 4 goals in our 6-3 Carling Cup win at Anfield, he was awful. And to be honest, that game was such an anomaly that I can't believe it even happened. Not only did we go to Anfield and score 6 goals, but Baptista scored 4 (and missed a penalty, which isn't surprising), Aliadiere scored the first and setup 3 more, and ALEX SONG SCORED. Freakish.

He really did seem like a nice earnest lad who gave his best, and to his credit he ended the season with 10 goals (although 6 of those were in 2 Carling Cup games), but he was rubbish - a big lumbering cow more than any sort of fearsome beast, his missed chances deprived us of so many wins.

And why am I suddenly bringing up "The Beast" all of a sudden? Because a quote I came across today from Ryan Babel only serves to confirm what we all suspected... that despite his bulk, incredible muscle percentage and density, and ninja-turtle like exterior, he was just a great big softie:

"A big body doesn't mean you're strong. I understand from Robin van Persie at Arsenal that Julio Baptista isn't strong at all, even though he's a massive guy." - Ryan Babel

Not strong at all... hilarious stuff really, considering that his size and strenth were one of the few things still going in his favour. But I think we all knew what the real deal was when PSV's frail looking Chinese left-back Sun Xiang comprehensively barged Baptista to the ground in a soft little shoulder-to-shoulder encounter.

Not to say that he's a bad player though, he isn't - his performances for Sevilla were oustanding, and he showed in flashes at the Copa America how good he can be. The problem is that he's just very limited. He's not mobile, not that quick or strong, and needs too much time and space. He was found out in fast pace of the Premiership, and especially so in Arsenal's quick passing-and-moving system.

The other problem with Baptista, is that he thinks he's better than he is. We've all heard the stories about how clumsy he was in his Sao Paulo days, and how the fans used to laugh and call him a clown, but did you know that they also used to call him "Zidane"? Not out of any recognition of his oustanding abilities, but rather the lack thereof, and his continual attempts to try tricks and skills that he was so far from mastering, that they often ended in complete embarassment.

Good luck to him, and here's some highlights from his one "good game" for Arsenal:

Well, good riddance to bad Reyes.

He's cried and moaned and whinged like a little baby for years now, and really needs to grow up and act like a professional. Arsenal paid a lot of money for him, and he basically put them in a position where they had absolutely no bargaining power and every club in the world knew this.

He's signed for Atletico for about €9 million, which is pitiful considering his talent and ability, and that he was valued at almost £14 million (approximately €20 million) when he went on loan to Real last season.

He always gave 100% on the pitch for Arsenal, even though he played like shit for a lot of it, and although he's never said anything bad about the club, his acting like a sissy has cost them in the transfer market. He's nearly 25 now, and needs to stop behaving like a lost, little boy. After crying all year round about the weather and how he wouldn't play in England again, he's gotten his wish, but at the expense of Arsenal. It's sad, especially when Arsene Wenger showed so much faith in him and gave him so much support.

Anyways, good luck to you Reyes. Hopefully he can make use of his incredible talent and stop crying in the media every other day.

And of course we have some leaked photos for you: