The famous clock perched high at one end of Emirates Stadium had us eight minutes into Arsenal's Champions League meeting with Rafael Benitez's Napoli, the supposed dark horses in the hazardous Group F.
Olivier Giroud flicked the ball along the line to Aaron Ramsey, two of the symbols of Arsenal's recent renaissance joining forces to open up the left side of Napoli's defence. Ramsey broke into the area, took a look and picked out Mesut Ozil on the edge of the area.
Ozil, a deadly combination of grace and danger, barely broke stride or sweat to sweep a precise side-foot finish out of the reach of diving Napoli keeper Pepe Reina to give Arsenal an advantage they were never in danger of surrendering.
Arsene Wenger has often been accused of allowing his team to go in search of the near-perfect goal at the expense of the game's practicalities. The manager's punch of the night air and beaming smile, the years seeming to fall away, suggested this was a thing of beauty that would keep him warm when he eventually walks away.
The Frenchman likes the finer things in football. Ozil and the goal he scored fall into that category.
Arsenal's fans rose with Wenger to acclaim the German midfield man whose arrival has elevated the spirits of a club that was in danger of crisis to the point where they can start daring to dream.
Not about winning the Champions League, even though this 2-0 win over Napoli puts them in command of their group. Not about winning the Premier League, even though they head the table.
It is too early for that - but what a different club Arsenal is and what a different place the Emirates is from the seething mass of frustration it has become in eight trophyless years.
And so much of this sense of wellbeing can be apportioned, on so many levels, to the slender figure of Ozil.
......BBC
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