UEFA Champions League: Arsenal Fight Back for a Draw Against Barcelona

Arsenal played the first leg of their Champions league quarterfinal at home to Barcelona last night and it turned out to be a very strange affair.

I had hoped for a classic match with two attacking teams going at each other from the first minute. However, it turned out to be a completely different game as Barcelona proceeded to totally outclass Arsenal much to the embarrassment of myself and the other Gooners watching it in the supporters' club.

The team the boss selected was exactly as I had predicted and it was probably our strongest starting 11 with the exception of the soon-to-be recovered from injury, RVP.

Cesc was fit to play and so was Gallas, although I had my doubts about both of them making it through the 90 minutes. I felt we had a chance if we could play our football at a pace that Barcelona would find it hard to cope with, but it wasn't going to be easy.

Arsenal somehow managed to make it to half time with their goal intact after Almunia played an absolute blinder to keep Barcelona out almost single-handedly. I wish I knew exactly what went wrong in that first half as Arsenal again seemed not to show up for a really big game.

We were too slow to close Barcelona down when they were in possession, but they snapped at our heels when we had the ball. It meant our short passing game never got going at all and Barcelona caused us countless headaches down both wings and through the middle.

Things were absolutely awful in that first half and they weren't helped when Arshavin went off injured after only 27 minutes with a calf strain, or when he was followed just before half time by Gallas with the same problem.

The boss had a big decision to make as he warmed up both Denilson and Campbell to replace Gallas. He opted for Denilson in the end and Song dropped back to the centre of the defence with Denilson taking over the anchor role in midfield.

As I discussed the first half with a few other fans, we thought that the game was crying out for the introduction of Walcott to get behind them with his pace and get them on the back foot.

We also thought  Arsenal had been incredibly lucky and Almunia had been fantastic, but somebody said that it would be just like him to make a mess of things in the second half.

The second half had only just started when a ball over the top and into the right hand channel caught Song out of position, leaving Ibrahimovic in a one-on-one with Almunia. Unfortunately, instead of trying to narrow the angle, Almunia made the wrong decision and raced off his line, which left the Swede with the relatively easy task of lobbing the ball over him into an empty net.

As Ibrahimovic was not straight through but to the side, Almunia should not have come out, again he showing his poor decision making. Obviously it wasn't all his fault as Song's naivety in the central defensive role was also exposed.

Arsenal managed to get back in the game just a little after that when Clichy put a cross right on to the head of Bendtner after 56 minutes. He was only about six yards out and seemed certain to score, but Valdes managed to make the save. It was our best chance at that stage by a long way and he really should have scored.

Only three minutes later things got decidedly worse as another ball over the top in the same position caught Song off guard again and played Ibrahimovic in on our goal. He slammed the ball into the back of the net by the near post—there was nothing Almunia could have done about that.

It seemed like we were in for a beating and I just hoped things didn't get any worse.

However, Barcelona dropped their tempo just a little bit and Arsenal slowly started to get a foot hold in the game. The introduction of Walcott for Sagna in the 66th minute had an almost instant impact as he got in behind the full back and on to a pass from Bendtner. He hit his shot low and despite getting to it the ball squirmed under the body of Valdes and into the goal. 

The players sensed that they might just get something from the game after all and they tried to push forward, but it always looked like Barcelona might pick us off on the break.

Both teams lived a little dangerously on occasions and it looked like we would be heading to Spain next Tuesday facing a massive uphill struggle.

However, with five minutes left Bendtner headed the ball down to Cesc in their box and as he swung his foot to shoot it seemed to get caught between the legs of Puyol. I didn't think it was a penalty myself, but I was happy for Arsenal to get it and the red card that followed for Puyol was even better.

Cesc stepped up and slammed the ball straight down the middle as the keeper dived to his left, and suddenly we were level again. He raced to the back of the net to pick the ball up as the players realised that they might get a very unlikely win against 10 men. However, as Cesc made his way towards the half way line it was soon obvious that he was in trouble with an injury.

He was holding his leg below the right knee and it didn't look good as he made his way to the sideline for some treatment. It looked like a recurrence of the injury he suffered against Birmingham on Saturday and I will be very surprised if he plays against Wolves this Saturday. 

The game finished soon after that without too many more incidents—although a few of events of note did take place during that second half.

Cesc got a yellow card for what seemed like a fairly good tackle to me and he will miss the second leg next week as a result. It will probably mean that he won't play again until we play the Spuds in two weeks and I'm sure the rest will do him some good.

With 15 minutes to go, Barcelona brought Henry on and he got a fantastic reception from the home fans which I was delighted to hear. With Puyol receiving a red card he too will miss the return leg and will be joined by their other centre back Pique who will be banned after receiving a yellow card. 

We have some hope for the return leg. Despite getting a football lesson from Barcelona we fought our way back into the game to get the draw and we saw that they have weaknesses at the back that we can exploit on the night.

The most important thing for now is our home game against Wolves on Saturday afternoon and the "Manure" versus Chelsea game before that. 

After the game the boss said we gave them too much room to play, but he believes we can go to the Nou Camp next week and get the result we need to progress; it would be a big achievement. 

It's very hard to think of any Arsenal player who showed what he is capable of last night, and that was the most worrying thing for me. I think Walcott genuinely worried them when he came on and the wide open spaces in their ground should make him a certain starter out there.

Our midfield was very poor at times and in my opinion none of the midfielders did themselves any justice. Thankfully they all have the chance to make amends in five days, with the exception of the suspended  Cesc.

Almunia made some fantastic saves, as he often can do, but again showed that he is also a liability.

The defence tried all they could, but found it very hard at times. Song may be able to cope as a centre back in the Premier league, but he was found wanting at the very highest level.

Bendtner tried his best up front and had a hand in both goals, but his touch still looks off to me, and the header he missed at 1-0 was probably the best chance for either team in the game.

Finally for today, there are reports that Cesc may have broken his leg and his season may be over, but since I heard them on Sky Sports I will take them with a pinch of salt. 

Here are the highlights from last night.

See you tomorrow.