Champions League, Barcelona-Arsenal: Gunners Fall Short Against Spanish Giants

When the draw was made for the Champions League quarterfinals we knew that we hadn't got an easy tie with the current champions Barcelona as our opponents. Things were fairly difficult in the first leg when Barcelona tore us apart for an hour and we looked down and out as they took a 2-0 lead.

However, we managed to get back in that game and the 2-2 draw was more than we could have hoped for during that first hour.

We also paid a very heavy price for that game as both Cesc and Gallas came back too soon from injury and ended up doing themselves more damage which meant that their seasons ended prematurely. We also lost Arshavin early in that game and then Song limped off on Saturday against Wolves and it meant he was out of the return leg too.

Sol Campbell finds it almost impossible to play two games in less than a week, so his absence was not surprising either. As RVP was already out since early November and Djourou, Gibbs and Ramsey were long term absentees our squad was down to a mere shell of our strongest team.

What we needed on the night was for every player that played to play at their very best and give everything they had for 90 minutes. An early goal would have been nice as well, and we got that through Bendtner after only 18 minutes. Walcott was played in for a one-on-one with the keeper, but he chickened out of shooting and instead played a poor square pass to the onrushing Bendtner.

To be fair to Bendtner he did very well to get a shot off and the keeper saved it but he reacted quickest to the rebound and stabbed it home for a 1-0 lead.

The goal came from pressurising Barcelona in possession in midfield and we had an opportunity right after their kick off to punish them again. Diaby had time and space to pick out Walcott who had got in a great position behind their defence, but with every single person in the supporters club screaming at him to give it to Walcott, he chose to pass it to the other side instead. The chance was gone and as we discussed it, worse was to follow.

Messi took possession outside our box and tried to thread a pass through our defence which Clichy blocked. It hit Silvestre and Messi ran back on to it to slam it past Almunia from the edge of the box. Our lead had only lasted three minutes but we were still in the game and I held out some hope as Barcelona weren't playing as well as they did at The Emirates.Their defence looked shaky to me. 

With less than 10 minutes to go to half time, Abidal was given the freedom of the left side of the pitch as Walcott failed to track him back. He should have put the ball across the six yard line for a tap in for two Barcelona players, but he caught it wrong and it went behind them and the Arsenal defenders. One of the defenders got a touch but it fell to Pedro who laid it off to that man Messi again and he finished easily from no more than eight yards.

At this stage it was imperative that we stay tight at the back and get to half time only one goal behind but unfortunately the usually-reliable Vermaelen decided to go chasing his player into their half. When the ball fell to Barcelona, Vermaelen was terribly out of position. It was played straight down the middle for Messi to run through and chip Almunia to make it 3-1. 

I knew it would be an uphill struggle in the second half but I thought if we could keep the score at 3-1 until the last 15 or 20 minutes and then push further forward that we still had a chance. One goal at that stage would have made Barcelona very nervous as another one would have put them out. That was the situation as we entered the last 15 minutes and despite the fact that we weren't playing well, we still had a couple of half chances to turn things around.

Bendtner was played in but his first touch was poor and the defender got back to take it off his toes before he could get his shot off. Rosicky also had an effort from the edge of the box that I would have expected him to at least get on target on a good day but it was far from that for him. Bendtner then hit the post with a header from a magnificent Clichy cross but he was ruled offside, although we never saw a replay showing us the line he was running so it was impossible to tell if it was right or not.

Barcelona were playing a cagey game and not committing too many players forward as it was obvious that they feared getting caught on the break. It looked like it would end at 3-1 to them until Eboue, who had come on for Silvestre and switched to right back with Sagna going central, decided to stay five yards behind the rest of the defence as we tried to play offside.

All he managed to do was play Messi on and from there Almunia saved his first shot but he finished the rebound through his legs. As Messi ran through, Eboue considered tripping him but he knew he would have walked as he had already received a yellow card.

Suddenly a respectable enough 3-1 became a bit of a thumping at 4-1 and we were out of the Champions League at the quarterfinal stages. It leaves us with the league as our only hope of a trophy but even that is hanging by the very narrowest thread as we need to win our five remaining games and hope Chelsea in particular only win three of theirs. 

On the night, we never really got our passing game going and the absence of so many of our best players was telling. Rosicky clearly hadn't recovered from Saturday and he didn't play well at all and I thought he should have been replaced earlier. Our best player on the night was most certainly Clichy in my opinion as he showed a desire and belief that seemed to be missing in some other players.

It's very seldom that you will see Arsenal pass the ball back to our keeper so often in a game and allow him to kick it long, but Barcelona closed us down so well on the night that the players felt that it was their only option.

The speed at which Barcelona passed was far greater than ours and their determination to keep playing football and looking for spaces to run into was another major difference between the teams. Their players were rarely isolated in possession but ours were all too often. We had a few good breaks at 3-1 down in the second half where the support never arrived and things broke down, and I think it came down to a lack of belief from the players on the night.

The boss was very gracious in defeat and he said the best team won over the two legs and it's hard to argue with it. I'm not down over the outcome as I honestly didn't expect much more when the draw was made, and certainly when our players started falling like 10 pins recently.

What did disappoint me about the game was getting two players booked by Barcelona players feigning injury. Both Denilson and Eboue were incorrectly booked and it's annoying to see a referee falling for cheating like that.

Denilson won the ball fairly from Messi but Messi rolled around as if he had been cut in two and Eboue pushed his opponent in the shoulder after receiving the same treatment from him but the Barcelona player went down holding his face. Barcelona are a great team and a beautiful team to watch, and they shouldn't resort to cheating.

I could go on about it ad nauseum but I'll leave it there for today and hopefully the week that we have off now will help the players to recover and build towards a victory at the Spuds' ground on this day next week as we welcome yet another St. Totteringham's Day.  

Here's the highlights from last night.

See You Tomorrow.