A closer look at Arsenal FC and Royal Challengers Bangalore

I’ve been an Arsenal fan since the time I have been introduced to club football and a Royal Challengers fan ever since the inception of the IPL. With the IPL just starting a few weeks back and not being able to take my mind of Arsenal’s brilliant form, I’ve decided to compare the two teams.

Primary colour

RED is the primary colour of both the teams. Yes , I know Arsenal are red and white and RCB are red and gold but they have the distinct red, not just a patch of red or something , it’s their primary colour.

Owners

Arsenal’s primary shareholder, Stan Kroenke and RCB owner Vijay Mallya, are rich but not quite the richest in their leagues. Mallya leads a flamboyant lifestyle but we all know the state of his airlines. Vijay Mallya is valued at around one billion dollars and Stan Kroenke at 3.2 billion dollars, which isn’t much compared to the owners of other teams and hence they take the conservative self sustaining approach. Also, Kroenke and Mallya own other sports teams too. Mallya co-owns Sahara force India (F1 team), East Bengal FC and Mohun Bagan AC of the I-league. Kroenke owns Denver nuggets of the NBA , Colorado Avalanche of the NHL , Colorado Rapids of the MLS and St. Louis Rams of the NFL.

Players

Both the teams have a great youth policy and believe in developing youngsters rather than splashing on superstars. Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Ryo Miyachi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of late are the budding stars of the Arsenal team with plenty more players on the verge of breaking into the first team. Virat Kohli , Saurabh Tiwary, Abhimanyu Mithun and Cheteshwar Pujara are the young lads at RCB waiting to prove a point.

Buy Backs

When things are not going as planned, both teams decide to buy back some of their experienced ex-players. Arsenal bought Sol Campbell in January 2010 when the Arsenal defence was in a mess, Jens Lehmann in 2011 when the keepers were out injured and Theirry Henry in 2012 on a loan spell when the club was in a slump and mentally weak. RCB too have bought back Zaheer Khan whom they had initially traded for Robin Uthappa and Vinay Kumar after the Kochi team dissolved.

One Man Teams

There is a lot of talk about Arsenal being a one man team with RvP hitting peak form and ditto with RCB and Chris Gayle. RVP is enjoying his first injury free season and is racking up the goals and might as well be the PFA player of the year, Chris Gayle had a wonderful time in IPL season four, putting on his best performance and earning the orange cap last year for scoring the most runs in the tournament.

Champions League

Arsenal have qualified for the champions league for 14 years now, RCB have played in every edition of their champions league since it’s inception. Both teams have also made it to one champions league finals and lost to the most dominant team at the time.

Fighting Spirit

You just can’t count out either of the teams at any point during a game. Arsenal starting their season in 17th are currently battling it out for 3rd place, similar to RCB in last year’s edition of the IPL when all hope was lost, they held their nerve and pushed on to take a place in the semis.

Trophy Drought

Both the teams have not won a trophy for a while now. Arsenal‘s last trophy was the FA cup in 2005 and RCB, well, they haven’t won anything yet since the tournament is only five seasons old.

Future

A fan of each of these teams can safely say they are genuine contenders for any title and with young talent coming through their ranks there are exciting times ahead.