On Wednesday evening, Arsenal will welcome RC Lens at the Emirates for their Champions League clash, while Sevilla host PSV Eindhoven.
It will be a special game for Pascal Cygan, who will watch his former club face a team he has close relationship with, seeing as he is currently manager of CS Avion, seen as a ‘brother club’ to the Ligue 1 side.
The former Arsenal defender had a chat with La Voix du Nord ahead of the clash, during which he remembered his time with the Gunners.
The retired centre-back was signed by the Premier League club from Lille in 2002 for a fee of €3.83m, and stayed in London for four years before eventually emigrating to Spain, to Villarreal, who bought him for €2.9m.
On his time at Arsenal, he said: “I was the only Gunners player to not be an international. In the dressing room, I had Thierry Henry, David Seaman, Dennis Bergkamp or Nwankwo Kanu with me. It was only the very high level.
“Because I had a profile that wasn’t the most elegant and more destined to get the ball back, of course, I loved England. Over there, when you pull off a tackle or you kick it out for a throw in, people clap you. For them, stopping through ball or scoring a goal, it’s the same thing.”
While he admits he hasn’t marked Wednesday’s date in his personal calendar, he made it clear that if he has time, he will keep an eye on how the Arsenal game develops.
