There is bad timing, and then there is whatever Arsenal pulled this weekend. Lose a Champions League final on penalties on Saturday, wake up Sunday, and decide the only logical move is to wheel out the double-decker, slap CHAMPIONS on the side, and parade through North London like the wound isn't still bleeding. You cannot script worse optics.
The miss that set the whole bit in motion — Arsenal's #6 watching his penalty get swallowed in the 5-4 shootout.
And while Gooners were still rinsing their eyes out from that one, the bus got rolling. The Premier League trophy held aloft, Sky Sports cameras eating it up, and the internet immediately reaching for the popcorn. Big Cat couldn't help himself — he floated the modest suggestion that maybe, just maybe, you schedule the league parade either BEFORE the UCL final or a week after. You know, so the timeline doesn't read like a comedy sketch.
Big Cat with the calendar-management note Arsenal apparently lost in the group chat.
The roast didn't stop there. The main account piled on with the same parade clip and the obvious caption — Arsenal may never live this one down — because there really is no spinning a 24-hour turnaround from penalty-shootout heartbreak to confetti cannons. The Gooner faithful, to their credit, are trying to hold the line. Zah, flying the flag for Arsenal supporters across every continent he could name, basically begged the lads to wipe the dirt off and go again. That's a fanbase doing emotional triage in real time.
An Arsenal fan post-shootout, rallying the global support after the Marquinhos-and-friends nightmare.
It fucking sucks but these guys gotta get up, wipe the dirt off and we go again. Just know that us Arsenal fans in America, South America, Africa, Europe, Middle East, pacific west, Asia have your backs cause we love you
Meanwhile the rest of the internet found other Arsenal fans to point and laugh at — including one talking head who appeared to think there was still a second leg of the final to play, which, no, that is not how Champions League finals work. The Arsenal effect, as it were, is officially everywhere this weekend. The trophy bus, the delusional fan interviews, the global hand-wringing — all of it is going to follow this team into preseason. You don't get to choose your parade date twice.
An Arsenal supporter, post-final, still talking like there's another 90 minutes coming.
Look, Arsenal had a season worth celebrating. But there is a version of this weekend where the bus stays in the garage for 7 more days and nobody is dunking on you. They picked the other version. Big Cat is right — brutal timing, and the only club that could possibly pull it off is the one currently doing it.