How Arsenal were targeted by ten ‘honeytrap of supermodels’ to tire them out ahead of big game
A Champions League opponent once plotted against Arsenal by sending a bunch of models to tire them out before their match.
While the Gunners are now fighting for a top-four finish in the Premier League, back in September 2003, they were regulars in Europe’s elite competition and had just begun what would become their Invincibles season.
Recognizing that Arsene Wenger’s team was at the pinnacle of their powers, Lokomotiv Moscow devised what they must have thought was a foolproof plan to keep them off their game, as former Arsenal defender Pascal Cygan revealed in 2019.
“When we entered our hotel in Moscow there were ten Russian top models waiting for us,” the Frenchman told La Voix du Nord. “They were seated in front of the bar.
“We were later told that they had been there to tire us out during the night before the match. We didn’t lose, and as far as I remember none of our players was stupid enough to fall into the trap.
“That was just as well, given the situation at that time. Stories about players’ private lives used to appear regularly in the papers.”
Having resisted any temptation, an Arsenal side including Martin Keown, Robert Pires, and Thierry Henry earned an important group-stage point on their travels, with Cygan an unused replacement.
The reverse encounter at the Emirates concluded in a two-nil triumph for the home side, but they only made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League that year, where they were defeated over two legs by Chelsea.
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How Arsenal were targeted by ten ‘honeytrap of supermodels’ to tire them out ahead of big game
