A quarter of an hour later, the stadium lights caught on the players as they emerged from the tunnel, and the noise inside Stadio Friuli rose in a steady wave.
The cameras swept across the pitch, finding faces, tracing the walk of each player into the open air.
Then Peter Drury's voice settled over the broadcast, calm at first, carrying the weight of a night that felt bigger than a regular final.
"There are matches," he said, letting the words breathe, "and then there are moments in the life of a club. Arsenal step out tonight carrying both. A team reborn over the last year, not by accident or drift, but by design. And at the heart of that design stands a young man who has become the catalyst for everything they now dare to reach for."
The camera drifted towards Izan as if drawn to the cue.
He stood somewhere in the middle of the line, shoulders rising in a small, centred roll, while his eyes kept roaming through the stands.
