It's not just the Champions League that can produce classic semi-final first-leg ties as proven by Feyenoord and Marseille - a Europa Conference League fixture that had somewhat of an Arsenal theme to it on and off the pitch.
Up in the stands at De Kuip was a certain Mr. Robin van Persie as he watched another of his former clubs overcome the Ligue 1 outfit in a five-goal thriller on Thursday night. Meanwhile, on the pitch, there was a reunion between three members of the Gunners' 2021/22 loan army.
In the Feyenoord corner was Reiss Nelson who has used the competition to send Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu a timely reminder of his qualities. And in the Marseille corner was William Saliba and, technically, Matteo Guendouzi who has already agreed to join the French side on a permanent basis at the end of the season.
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With the Dutch side coming out on top in a 3-2 win, it's safe to say that Nelson shaded the Arsenal loan army battle and he claimed an assist for Luis Sinisterra to make it 2-0 after just 20 minutes played with a pass that was described as 'perfect' by the BT Sport commentary team.
The 22-year-old beat the Marseille offside trap to latch onto a ball over the top, kept his composure in a 1v1 battle with Saliba and cut the ball back to Sinisterra whose effort - which was not the cleanest - deflected off Valentin Rongier and looped over Steve Mandanda into the back of the net.
To Marseille's credit, they did fight back from 2-0 down to go in level at the half-time break, but seconds into the restart Duje Caleta-Car gifted Feyenoord the goal which ultimately won the first leg as his sloppy back pass was seized upon by Cyriel Dessers to net his second of the night.
That proved to be the end of the scoring and Nelson had been substituted by the time Saliba missed a big chance to make it 3-3 in the 81st minute as he rose highest to meet a Dimitri Payet corner at the back post but couldn't guide his header on target.
As a result, this sets up a fascinating second leg at the Stade Velodrome next Thursday as one - or three (if Ainsley Maitland-Niles' Roma overcome Leicester City in the other semi-final) - Arsenal loanees will reach the Europa Conference League final, but it just remains to be seen who that will be.
