Arsenal 1-1 Atletico Madrid: A thing that happened

Straight talk: none of us watched more than a bit of this game. So this won’t in any way be any sort of recap of the actual game. It’s more of a set of observations, starting now:

- The Arsenal goal came from Emile Smith-Rowe, stepping into the hyphenated-painfully-stereotypical-English-name role vacated by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. It was a lovely goal:

The usual cautions apply: it’s preseason, he’s 17, etc. So he’s not going to leapfrog from that goal to be this year’s Premier League Golden Boot winner or anything, but it’s good to see his development bearing some fruit.

- This friendly went to penalties. Friendlies going to penalties is the dumbest thing ever conceived. Nobody needs to win a friendly. But in the penalty shootout, Petr Cech saved a penalty, so that’s a thing that happened.

- Atletico Madrid won the penalty shootout, so they’ve got Singaporean bragging rights I guess?

- The new kits look less terrible in action than in still pictures. I still don’t love the sleeve stripes, but overall it’s not a bad look.

That’s about it, really. Arsenal play PSG on Saturday morning before heading to Dublin for next Wednesday’s ICC finale against Chelsea.