The ecstasy and the agony

Napoli were soclose to going through to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Like, minutes away. In the 73rd minute, Gonzalo Higuaín scored to put Napoli up 1-0 over Arsenal. With Marseille, despite being down to ten men, drawing against Dortmund, it looked like the partenopei would pull it off, and manage to wiggle their way into the next round.

Then the inevitable happened. An 87th minute goal from Kevin Großkreutz put Dortmund in front. Napoli, despite beating Arsenal, despite having twelve points in the group stages, were out. We made history!

The boys put up a good fight -- or they did, at least, once Lorenzo Insigne replaced Goran Pandev. José Callejón moved to the center and suddenly, this was a team capable of defeating Arsenal. Too bad that team had just 30 minutes on the pitch. It was enough for a goal from Pipita, and for a last-minute goal from Ziggy. And who knows, had someone actually anticipated that Pablo Armero would put in a perfect cross, and been there to follow it up, Napoli may have pulled off the perfect ending.

But let's not think about that now, alright? Bottoms up. Chin-chin.