World Football's Champions League Hangover: English Pride Comes Before the Fall

Welcome to world football's Champions League Hangover, in which we round up the key stories and important points from the most recent games in Europe's premier club competition.

You only needed to look at Lionel Messi's team-mates to realise how important they felt another goal would have been.

A few of them joined Messi in his revealing pose, spread out on the turf, arms open in anguished disbelief, after he had headed spectacularly wide after seeing Joe Hart save his penalty—a reaction that underlined the fact that a tie they were on the verge of killing off was suddenly firmly back alive.

Twenty-four hours later and a few hundred miles further south, it was the home players reacting in the same way under different circumstances. Where Barcelona had failed to go 3-1 up in the closing stages against Manchester City, AS Monaco succeeded emphatically, substitute winger Yannick Ferreira Carrasco's slick finish sending Arsenal further into the well.

Manchester City are still in the tie against Barcelona, albeit only by the skin of their teeth. There might actually be more hope for the Gunners even though their deficit is more significant, but the manner of their complete capitulation against the Monegasque outfit offers little real cause for encouragement. Historically speaking, the comeback they now require has hardly ever been pulled off.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said after the game, per the Guardian:

"

It looks, when you have not that kind of sharpness, anything is possible. We were not at the level defensively. We were a bit unlucky as well because the first goal was deflected. But on the second and third goals, we were suicidal.

We had the luck to come back to 2-1 and you do not have the right to give a goal away the way we did. That makes our task in the second leg extremely difficult. It looks like we have lost our nerves and our rationality on the pitch.

The heart took over the head and, at this level, it doesn't work. Mentally we were not ready, not sharp enough to get into this game. We paid for it.

"

It was strong criticism, unusually so, from Wenger, who almost always defends his players, often to the point of absurdity. But there was no defending either in or as a consequence of this performance, as the home side froze like rabbits in the headlights at the first real chance to progress to the competition's quarter-finals for five seasons.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Geoffrey Kondogbia's opener was fortuitous, but the defending was slack too. For Dimitar Berbatov's strike, it was even worse—what in the world was Per Mertesacker thinking? But to throw away the lifeline given to them by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's calm, cultured finish was almost criminal.

The competition is called the Champions League, but it is perhaps worth pointing out this was the third-best side in England in the current standings against the fourth-best in France—and Monaco were missing half their first-choice team. Arsenal's task was hardly the most demanding. 

It may transpire that Leonardo Jardim is the second coming of Jose Mourinho over time—his scampering down the touchline after Ferreira Carrasco's goal was reminiscent of Mourinho's celebration at Old Trafford all those years ago—but even so, this was not the sort of game you expected Arsenal to choke away so thoroughly.

Now, ironically, at a time when they finally seem to have hit upon a tactic for defending sensibly away from home, Arsenal go into a European game on the road knowing they need to score three times to progress—and Monaco have a mean defensive record at home.

Perhaps just as the Gunners wilted under the pressure and expectation of a packed-out Emirates Stadium, so Monaco will be drained of their intensity by the half-empty Stade Louis II they are often greeted with. That is the sort of hope left for the Londoners. We shall see if it transpires that way.

For Manchester City, Messi's miss almost seemed to throw the momentum back in their favour—changing things around to the extent that it was Manuel Pellegrini's side walking off the pitch with a spring in their step and hope in their hearts and Barcelona players who needed picking up after a late disappointment.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Luis Enrique will doubtless point to the entire 90 minutes, however, and remind his side of the class they showed. This was a high-quality, hugely attractive game of football—by far and away the best of the eight first legs, something City deserve their share of credit for—but the visitors always looked a class above in the key moments.

On the ball in particular, they tormented their opponents in the same way they did in the midst of the Pep Guardiola era, to the extent that Gael Clichy was sent off and Pablo Zabaleta, usually so reliable, inexplicably gave away that late spot-kick.

With the two teams having faced each other at the same stage last season, such challenges should all have been so familiar to City. Instead, it was so familiar to the viewer, as Barca purred and City made the same unforced errors—as Pellegrini noted, per the Guardian:

"

I think that we played two different games: the first half and the second. Until the first goal it was a very normal game and after that we concede an easy goal and played very bad until the first half finished. In the second half I think we played well, we scored one goal and had two or three more chances to draw. ...

... We repeat the same mistake as last year—one player sent off. It is very difficult to play against Barcelona with 10. We cannot have a player sent off every game against Barcelona.

We finished with the penalty Joe saved very well. It was a very important save. Of course it gives us more chance to try to win in Barcelona; 3-1 [would have been] a very difficult score to try and erase. It was a very unnecessary penalty.

"

It is interesting to wonder whether City would swap their situation for Arsenal's despite the extra deficit. The temptation is to suggest they would, considering Barcelona at the Nou Camp must be good for at least a goal more than Monaco at their place.

Either way, both English clubs have a lot of improving to do before the second tie comes round—and even then it might not be enough to see them through. It is a familiar refrain.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

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Champions League Last-16 results

Tuesday

Juventus 2-1 Borussia Dortmund
(Tevez, Morata; Reus)

Manchester City 1-2 Barcelona
(Aguero; Suarez (2))

Wednesday

Arsenal 1-3 AS Monaco
(Oxlade-Chamberlain; Kondogbia, Berbatov, Ferreira Carrasco)

Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 Atletico Madrid
(Calhanoglu)

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Goal of the Week

"

What a great goooooal from Calhanoglu #B04 1 –0 #Atleti Madrid #UCL https://t.co/5QVDhd3Fef

— Onefootball (@Onefootball) February 25, 2015"

Goal of the Week: Runner-Up Edition

"

VINE - Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scores for Arsenal https://t.co/818aPb6cCg

— FanSided GIF (@FanSidedGIF) February 25, 2015"

Random Asides

• The return leg of Atletico Madrid's tie against Bayer Leverkusen promises to be an extremely interesting affair. Leverkusen have been somewhat spineless in the past but looked solid on Wednesday, and in the likes of Hakan Calhanoglu, Karim Bellarabi and Heung-min Son, they have young, hungry forwards more than capable of breaking through a defence. Atletico will perhaps be slender favourites, considering their pedigree, but without Diego Godin and Tiago (both suspended) to call upon, Diego Simeone may need to pull another rabbit from the hat.

• It is important to note just how crucial that Messi penalty miss could be. The second leg of their tie with Manchester City takes place just a few days before the second Clasico of the season, a game that could go a long way to deciding the title race in Spain. Real will have had the entire week off, presumably having sailed through against Schalke the previous week, but Barca will not have that luxury. A Messi goal might not have changed that entirely, but it would have given them a bit more room for error.

• Monaco progressing at the expense of Arsenal would perhaps be a surprise, but in truth, that tie was always the Basel against Porto of this week's games: Every other side in the competition will be hoping to be drawn against its winner in the next round. If anything, Monaco's display might have earned them greater respect around the continent than Arsenal have had for a long while.

• On that point, was Wednesday the day when Arsene Wenger finally decided he needs a better striker than Olivier Giroud? The Frenchman has been generally very good when fit this season, but the "Giroud Paradox" remains: He's perhaps too good to be a back-up but not good enough to be your No. 1 option. After Giroud squandered some glorious chances to turn the tide against Monaco, however, perhaps Wenger sat there and realised that merely being good is sometimes not good enough.

• Messi's penalty miss means Luiz Adriano remains top of the scoring charts in this season's competition with nine goals. It seems safe to assume the Brazilian will be usurped soon enough, however, especially if Shakhtar Donetsk have been eliminated by Bayern Munich upon the conclusion of the second leg at the Allianz Arena.

• Juventus lead Borussia Dortmund at half-time in their tie thanks to Alvaro Morata and Paul Pogba, who combined to score the all-important third goal in a 2-1 game. With a combined age of 43, we could see the duo dovetailing for goals at Juventus for many years to come. The way they are starting to play, however, the smart money is that both could plying their trade in Spain (in Morata's case, not for the first time) within the next 18 to 24 months.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Good Week, Bad Week

Good Week

Luis Suarez: His return to English shores was an extremely positive one.

Hakan Calhanoglu: His name is surely cropping up more regularly with scouts at biggest clubs.

Leonardo Jardim: Perhaps not his Mourinho moment, but his team got a hugely significant away win all the same.

Joe Hart: Saving a penalty from Lionel Messi—something to tell the grandkids about.

Alvaro Morata: A big goal in a big game. The Spaniard now seems to have adjusted to Turin life.

Bad Week

Arsenal: So typical, but still so, so poor. They have plenty of work now to do.

Tiago: Should have enough experience to know not to rush into rash challenges.

Manuel Pellegrini: Will the City hierarchy start wondering if he really has the elite qualities required to take them further?

Lionel Messi: Is it time for him to hand over penalty-taking responsibilities?

Giorgio Chiellini: His slip ended up giving Borussia Dortmund a huge lifeline in the contest.