Games against Real Madrid are always a massive draw, and their stars came across to north London in November 1999 to pay tribute to Lee Dixon in his testimonial match.
After 11 years' service as our right-back, when he won four league titles, three FA Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup, the England international was rewarded with a benefit match against the Spanish giants, whose manager, Welshman John Toshack, brought over a strong squad but minus the injured Nicolas Anelka, whose acrimoniouis switch from north London to the Spanish capital had taken place the previous summer.
However, iconic players such as Raul, Roberto Carlos, Clarence Seedorf, Dixon's Three Lions teammate Steve McManaman and a young Samuel Eto'o all featured against a Gunners side that, having beaten Tottenahm Hotspur 2-1 the previous day, included a number of fringe players along with Celtic's lan Wright, who had agreed to turn out for his former team-mate.
Wright, however, caused mayhem in the dressing room before the game had even started when he gave fans outside the East Stand an unexpected present - Marc Overmars and Davor Suker's shirts! Vic Akers had to get replacements from the Arsenal shop. which delayed the kick-off by 20 minutes.
With the game being played mid-season and both teams being involved in the hunt for domestic and European honours, the game was played out in a less aggressive manner than you might normally expect. This allowed plenty of opportunities for both sides to express their natural skills and entertain the crowd, but despite facing a strong Madrid side, we ran out convincing winners on Dixon's big night.
It took just 12 minutes for Patrick Vieira to open the scoring when he coolly slotted the ball under Albano Bizzarri after Ivan Campo failed to clear Emmanuel Petit's through ball. Then, shortly before half-time, Dennis Bergkamp doubled the score, ghosting in to the penalty area and converting a perfect first-touch lob from ex-Madrid star Suker, who had gone the other way to Anelka a couple of months previously.
We made five substitutions at half time, giving a rest to those players who had featured in the north London derby 24 hours earlier, and then Wright was introduced to rapturous applause with 20 minutes remaining. However, Stefan Malz overshadowed the return of the prodigal son a minute later when he scored with a superb diving header from Overmars' cross to make the game safe.
Immediately following the third goal, John Lukic replaced Alex Manninger, but his first touch of the ball was to pick Christian Karembeu's short-range shot out of the back of the net as Real bagged a consolation goal. But that was as good as it got for the Spaniards.
After the game, Dixon joked: "It was great to play in lan Wright's testimonial," and added, "The atmosphere was brilliant and it surpassed all my dreams. Every player likes to think he is appreciated, and the fans tonight were really magnificent."
LINE-UPS
Arsenal: Manninger (Lukic 71), Dixon, Winterburn (Vivas 46), Vieira (Hughes 46), Grimandi, Upson, Ljungberg (Overmars 46), Petit (Vernazza 62), Suker (Wright 70), Bergkamp (Kanu 46), Silvinho (Malz 46).
Real Madrid: Bizzarri, Salgado (Karembeu 34), Roberto Carlos (Dorado 68), McManaman (Eto'o 62), Morientes (Ognjenovic 85), Seedorf (Raul 46), Campo, Guti, Helguera, Karanka, Julio Cesar.
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