The Champions League returned to Islington in spectacular fashion after six long years on Tuesday evening when Arsenal routed PSV 4-0.
On a wet and windy evening in North London, Bukayo Saka became the first Gunners player to score for the Gunners in the tournament since Theo Walcott on March 7, 2017, when the former slotted home after only eight minutes.
The goal came after Eindhoven keeper Walter Benitez could only parry Martin Odegaard's shot, that saw the talented 22-year-old England international following up with aplomb to make it 1-0..
The crowd erupted in relief as much as joy. Partly, because, for many, it banished the memory of Walcott's strike against Bayern Munch during a miserable 5-1 defeat at the hands of the German giants, on the back of a 5-1 rout in Munich in the first leg of that infamous round of 16 tie, to make it a humiliating 10-2 defeat on aggregate.
The 2017 match is seen as a watershed by many, the final straw for many loyalists, who realised by then that a change in management had to be made, after Arsenal in the late Arsene Wenger era lost seven knock out ties in a row in the top table of European football.
Fast forward six seasons, and plenty of pain and frustration along the way, as the club felt its way gingerly through a seismic transition period to bring us to the exciting prospect of the here and now in N5.
It was no surprise then, that Mikel Arteta's vibrant young side doubled the lead shortly after Saka's strike, when Leandro Trossard, fired home a low, right-footed shot past the increasingly beleaguered Benitez to make it 2-0 after only 22 minutes.
How the crowd lapped it up - as they did the repackaged strains of Zadok the Priest before kick-off, otherwise known as the Champions League music.
There was more to savour when Gabriel Jesus made it 3-0 seven minutes before the interval, through a gloriously struck low, right-footed drive that was a true as it was powerful, giving the by now shellshocked Benitez no chance.
Jesus narrowly missed making it four on the hour mark, but Arsenal's play was as relentless as the rain that lashed down over the capital.
There were further cheers when Emile Smith Rowe replaced Jesus with 22 minutes remaining, as the crowd savoured the return of the academy graduate to first team action.
To crown a delightful evening for Arsenal, 120 seconds later captain Odegaard made it 4-0, with a precise, left-footed low drive to Benitez's far post as the travails of half a dozen years evaporated.
There will be far tougher tests if this Arsenal side wish to make their mark in Europe's premier competition, but for now, North London simply enjoyed a memorable evening as the Champions League returned.
