User:TodorBozhinov/Highbury squirrel

The Highbury squirrel was an incident during the first round of the Arsenal F.C.-Villarreal CF UEFA Champions League 2005-06 semi-final tie at Arsenal Stadium that gained notoriety in the following weeks. For a couple of minutes in the beginning of the game, a grey squirrel avoided the stewards to sprint across the Arsenal part of the pitch and the penalty area, forcing the referee to halt the game for about a minute until the animal left the field accompanied by the fans chanting "Squirrel! Squirrel!". Such incidents are not uncommon for lower and amateur leagues, but are almost unprecedented at a level that high.

The squirrel's invasion of the pitch was a common question to Arsenal players and manager Arsène Wenger after the match. Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann found the squirrel ugly compared to the red squirrels in Germany that people would see at the 2006 World Cup. For Wenger, the pitch-invading squirrel was a sign that Arsenal would win the game in their last European match at Highbury, which they did 1-0. The incident was also parodied in the media, including BBC Sport, where the squirrel was called a "Tottenham spy".